A two-year-old toddler has passed away after slipping out of his father’s arms while the two were on an escalator at a mall.
The tragic incident took place in Aurora, Colorado, where a father was walking around the Town Center shopping mall together with his 2-year-old son.
As CBS Denver reported, the father and son rode an escalator on the second floor of the mall when the baby boy lunged forward. After his father had lost grip, the toddler fell out of his arms and plunged to the ground.
Following the accident, the 2-year-old, who has since been identified as Jhovany De La Cruz-Perez by Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office, was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead hours later.
“I was in one of the shoe stores and I heard a lot of screaming, I heard a lady screaming, then out of nowhere the shop owner ran outside he was on the phone I heard him saying, that something happened, and he couldn’t close the store because he had guests,” one of the witnesses, Cesar Solorzano, said in an interview with CBS Denver.
“And then he looked at me, he told me what happened that a little kid fell off the escalator.”
Another anonymous shopper spoke to the publication to urge parents to take extra care when riding an escalator with their children.
“It’s just a reminder for parents even if you’re holding onto your kids going down the escalator, you can never be too safe,” they said.
While the investigation remains ongoing as of this writing, the incident is reportedly being treated as an accident by the authorities.
Our thoughts are with Jhovany’s family during these challenging times.
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