NYC Mum Dies and 5-Month-Old Baby Fights for Life After 15th-Floor Fall as Witness Heard 'Please Don't Do This'

A 23-year-old woman has died and an infant was critically injured after they were found outside a Bronx apartment building before dawn on Tuesday, 6 October, with injuries police described as consistent with a fall. Officers responded to 2550 Olinville Avenue in Allerton at about 3.38am.

A resident told WABC she heard a woman shout, 'Please don't do this!' before seeing something fall to the ground. Authorities have not established how the woman and infant came to fall or whether anyone else was involved.

Witness Recalls Plea Before Fall

The resident described hearing shouting shortly before the incident. Her account is separate from that of a witness who told police the woman and infant had been thrown from a balcony, according to WABC.

Authorities have not confirmed the allegation that the pair were thrown. Police have also not publicly established who was shouting or the circumstances surrounding the plea described by the resident.

Officers spent hours examining a 15th-floor balcony for evidence while searching for surveillance footage and additional witnesses. The examination of that balcony does not, on its own, establish the height from which the woman and child fell.

Investigators are seeking to determine what happened before the pair were discovered outside the building. The witness accounts remain part of an ongoing inquiry, rather than an established explanation for the fall.

Infant Taken to Hospital in Patrol Vehicle

Police took the injured infant to Jacobi Hospital in a patrol vehicle. WABC identified her as a five-month-old girl and reported that she remained in critical condition.

The woman was also taken to the same hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to the broadcaster.

Neither has been publicly identified. Although some reports have described the woman as the infant's mother, police have not publicly confirmed their relationship.

The child's reported age and condition come from local news coverage. No further medical details have been included in that reporting, and it remains unclear what injuries she sustained.

Detectives Seek to Speak to Ex-Boyfriend

WABC reported that investigators were seeking to speak to the woman's ex-boyfriend. Police have not publicly identified him as a suspect or said whether he was involved in the incident.

The reported effort to speak to him does not establish culpability. Authorities have not announced a finding that the woman's death resulted from an assault or confirmed the witness's allegation that the pair were thrown.

No arrests had been announced in Tuesday's reporting. Detectives are continuing to seek evidence about the circumstances of the fall, including any information that could clarify whether another person was involved.

Citywide Abuse Figures Provide Separate Context

Police have not publicly established a domestic-violence connection to this incident. New York City's domestic-violence statistics therefore should not be treated as evidence of what happened at the Allerton building.

Separately, the Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence's 2024 fact sheet recorded 249,077 domestic incident reports citywide. Of those, 116,051 were classified as intimate-partner-related.

Those figures count reports, not individual victims, convictions or confirmed homicides. They provide context about the volume of domestic incidents recorded across the city but do not explain the woman's death or the infant's injuries.

Anyone experiencing domestic or gender-based violence can contact New York City's free, confidential, 24-hour NYC HOPE Hotline on 1-800-621-4673.