Girl, 2, fighting for her life after falling 40ft from her bedroom window

A toddler has been left fighting for her life after she plunged 40 feet from her bedroom window in a block of flats.

Residents said they heard a ‘massive thud’ when the two-year-old girl fell from her third-storey window.

The girl, named locally as Lara Coleman, had to be airlifted to hospital following the ‘complete accident’ in Portsmouth around 6pm last night.

Neighbours said her mum, Fran Coleman, was ‘hysterical’ while her dad, Steve Coleman, rushed to Lara’s aid as she lay seriously injured on the street.

Hampshire Constabulary said it is investigating the incident which caused ‘life-threatening injuries’ and officers today carried out enquiries at the scene.

Neighbours said Lara’s bed in the flat is close to the window, leading to the fall.

Eyewitness Emma Reilly, 31, said a metal telephone junction box on the street below Lara’s window broke her fall and if it wasn’t for that the toddler ‘would have died for sure’.

Mrs Reilly, who lives in the block, said: ‘I heard a massive thud from outside and at first I thought someone had been run over.

‘But when I looked down from my window I could see the baby lying on the floor.

‘I shouted down to her mum because she had obviously been in the bath and had a towel around her head but came to the window to see what the commotion was.

‘I shouted, “That’s your baby, that’s your baby!” I think her husband had legged it downstairs at this point. It was horrible to see.

‘Lara is such a lovely and sweet little girl, always so happy and smiling.

‘There were actually two bangs, one of them was her hitting the green metal box and the other was her hitting the street.

‘Had she not hit that box, she would have died, for sure.

‘Her face was huge because it was swollen so much, she had a big black eye and down at the scene we were told she had a broken jaw.

‘She fell right in front of two 13 year old boys – they must be so shaken up.”

She added: ‘We brought her eight year old brother up here to keep him away but he was confused so we had to tell him an old lady fell over.

‘He asked us, “Why is my mummy crying?” so we just said it was because an old lady fell over.’

Lara’s eight year old brother is called Leo, neighbours said.

Karen Marsh, 54, rushed to Mrs Coleman’s aid and said she was ‘hysterical’: ‘She was in total shock, she was hysterical.

‘I told her to gather some clothes for the hospital. That poor woman, it’s truly dreadful. It put me in total shock mode and I just wanted to help out.

‘She kept asking, “Is she going to be OK? Is she going to be OK?”

‘It seemed like she didn’t have a clue what happened at first as she was in the bath – it was just a complete accident.’

The parents are understood to be by Lara’s side in hospital.

Four-storey Mulberry House was taped off by Hampshire Constabulary last night but reopened today.

A police spokesperson said: “Officers attended Bedford Street just after 6pm yesterday (May 29) following a report of a two-year-old girl being injured.

‘The girl suffered life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to hospital. We are making enquiries into the exact circumstances.’

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