Baby Hurt in Tumble From 2nd Floor

SANTA ANA —  An infant was hospitalized Sunday after she fell through the railing of a second-floor apartment balcony and landed on concrete. She is the third child in the city to fall off a balcony in four months, a fire official said.

Maria Castillo, 1, was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where she remained in guarded condition late Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said. She fell from a balcony at an apartment complex at 1017 W. Bishop St. A vertical bar was missing from the railing where the child fell, a Fire Department spokesman said.

Since May, two other small children have injured themselves critically after slipping through railings. The number of victims has prompted the concern of Santa Ana Battalion Chief Tom Skelly.

“The first few accidents were similar to the one (Sunday) where the vertical grillwork (allows) . . . a child to pass right through,” Skelly said.

Skelly said overcrowding in apartment complexes has led to more children playing on apartment balconies and has exacerbated the problem.

Three weeks ago, 15-month-old Anthony Rios, was critically injured when he fell 14 feet from an apartment balcony to concrete below.

On May 20, 19-month-old Bernardo Pescado Jr., slipped between metal vertical bars on a balcony and fell, fracturing his skull.

In Maria’s case, the Fire Department said, a bicycle had been locked to one of the wrought-iron vertical bars on the balcony railing, but someone removed the bar to steal the bicycle.

“With the piece missing, there now is a 12-inch space, and that is where she went through,” Skelly said.

Firefighters said they were told the bicycle was stolen Saturday night.

Skelly said that railings used to be built with the vertical bars four to six inches apart and, like the railing at the complex where Maria fell, “are within code.”

“These were built to code when they were constructed. That was acceptable. But what we find now is these toddlers are normal-sized and they’re falling through,” he said. “In one incident, we had a young boy fall off after he crawled underneath one of these railings.”

The manager of the apartment complex where Maria fell could not be reached for comment Sunday night.

Times staff writer David A. Avila contributed to this story.