Bystanders rescue toddlers hanging out of 3rd floor window

CHICAGO, Ill. (WCMH) – Three bystanders jumped into action to rescue two toddlers dangling out of a third-floor window in Chicago, but now they have questions for the toddlers’ parents.

Denise Ochoa and her cousin Jennifer Salgado were in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood when they saw the children hanging out of the window more than 20 feet above the concrete.

“I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening,’” Ochoa told WLS. “I was shaking, I wanted to cry. I’m like, ‘I can’t believe I’m seeing two babies hanging out the window.’”  

The pairs stopped to try to figure out how to help.

“I got under the window just in case a baby fell,” Ochoa said. “Every time they would move, we would get scared because we didn’t know if they would fall off the window or not.”

Just minutes later, a man with a ladder in his truck also stopped and it became a full-blown rescue mission.

“And right away, he put up the ladder, and he climbed up, put the baby back inside and closed the window,” Ochoa said.

The man, who did not want to be identified, told WLS, “I just did what I had to do as a human. I’m not going to stop helping people.”

Even though the children were safe, Ochoa and Salgado still have questions.

“I was screaming out for the parents,” Ochoa said. “I was like, ‘Where are the parents?’ Someone please get the babies because they are going to fall off.’ And no one would come down.”

According to Chicago police, there was one adult in the residence at the time, but that adult had no idea what was going on. The case has been handed over to the Department of Children and Human Family Services.