Man catches girl who fell 3 stories
Man catches girl who fell 3 stories
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A New York City bus driver was being hailed as a hero for saving a 7-year-old girl who fell three stories from an air conditioning unit outside a Brooklyn building.
“I just prayed that I’d catch her,” Stephen St. Bernard recalled after rescuing the child on Monday.
“‘Please let me catch her, please let me catch her.’ That’s all I could say,” he added.
St. Bernard said he was walking home from work when he observed a commotion outside the Coney Island housing complex.
He saw the girl standing on the air conditioning unit, seemingly unafraid and moving about.
It wasn’t clear how she got there, but witnesses said she crawled out by pulling aside the unit’s accordion-like plastic partitions that keep the air conditioner secured in the window.
An amateur video shows St. Bernard yelling up to the girl, telling her to go back inside when she suddenly falls and he catches her in his arms.
“I picked her up and carried her. … She kept looking around. She never closed her eyes. She never lost consciousness,” he said.
The girl was taken to a Coney Island hospital with minor injuries. St. Bernard, a father of four, suffered a torn tendon in his shoulder.
Neighbors said the girl was a special needs child.
Police said no charges were filed against the parents.
Obamas in Olympic hoops kissing controversy
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House insists that the missing kiss was no diss.
Sure, President Barack Obama planted one on first lady Michelle Obama during Monday night’s exhibition game by the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team. But that was their second appearance on the Verizon Center “Kiss Cam.”
The first time the Obamas’ images flashed on the overhead scoreboard, Mrs. Obama was seen shaking her head “no.”
However, deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday this was not a marital brushoff. He said the couple didn’t realize it was the Kiss Cam watching them; they only found this out after, during halftime, when their daughters asked why they had ducked the chance to smooch.
The president got his do-over later in the game when the Kiss Cam again swung his way. This time, he gave Mrs. Obama a big kiss on the lips, and added a peck on the forehead for good measure. The crowd roared.
“This incident was the subject of some high-level conversations on the helicopter en route to Andrews Air Force Base this morning,” said Earnest, briefing reporters aboard Air Force One en route to a day of politicking in Texas.
“I can tell you based on a very good source that reports that the president was rebuffed are false,” Earnest said.