2-year-old dead after fall from 6th-floor fire escape

A two-year-old boy died in Rego Park after falling from a sixth-floor fire escape, officials say.
Police from the 112th Precinct responded to the scene at 65-62 Saunders Street on Tuesday, November 20, where they found the child, later identified as Ezquell Coneterras, on the ground outside the front door of the apartment building. Officials say the fall occurred at about 8:07 a.m.
The child was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival at 8:45 a.m.
An investigation is ongoing, and police have not said whether they believe there was any criminal activity involved.
Coneterras’ mother, Sandra Perez, said she was in the shower when her child wandered out of their apartment window and onto the fire escape.
When Perez came down to look for her child several minutes later, neighbors said she did not appear to recognize her son.
Willie Smith, who lives on the floor above the victim’s family, said he saw the child before he died, shortly after the incident took place.
“I was on my way back from walking my granddaughter to school, and I saw the kid on a stretcher,” said Smith, who claimed he “started crying” when he first heard what happened. “He was moving. His eyes were open.”
Smith questioned the child’s parents.
“With a kid that young, somebody’s supposed to know his whereabouts,” he said. “I have a seven-year-old granddaughter, and I have to watch her every minute. This kid was only two.”
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the window that led to the fire escape from which Coneterras fell was not required to have a protective bar over it, precisely because it led to a fire escape.
Neighbors, however, said Coneterras had wandered dangerously close to the ledge of the fire escape multiple times in the past.
“I saw the very same baby climbing out of the window a few days ago,” said neighbor Boris Yusupov, 39. “My heart was shaking when I saw that.”