mississauga balcony rescue

Mississauga police hailed for saving boy found dangling from apartment window

What could have been a tragic accident was miraculously averted over the weekend thanks to four quick-thinking Peel Regional Police officers and the mother of a young child.

Police say that a seven-year-old boy was playing near the window of a sixth-floor apartment unit in Mississauga, near Erindale Station Road and Dundas Street West, shortly after 5 p.m. on Friday when he somehow slipped outside.

The child cried out, prompting his mother to run over and grab him. She managed to get a hold of her son, but could not pull him to safety,

Police say that by the time officers arrived, the boy was "fully hanging out" the window. His mother was halfway out, screaming while desperately clinging to her child, according to Const. Alvin Bayley.

Bayley, who was first to the scene, attempted to breach the apartment's door when the mother cried out that the boy's shirt was beginning to rip.

Three other Peel Police Officers — Const. Martin Boreczek, Sgt. Shaun Stanley, and Const. Ihor Palchynskyy — arrived in quick time. Together, the four cops managed to break down the door with a battering ram and pry bar.

Officers needed to break an adjoining window to secure the child without knocking his mother from her precarious perch. Two of the cops were treated for injuries from broken glass, but the child was said to be unharmed.

"Thanks as always to our heroic Peel Police officers for your quick response today, rescuing a seven-year-old boy from tragedy," wrote Mississauga-Lakeshore MPP Rudy Cuzzetto of the incident on Twitter. "Wishing you a quick recovery."

Peel Police Deputy Chief of Operations Support Marc Andrews replied to that tweet to shout out the mother as well.

"Let's give some big props to the child's mother. She fought to save her child's life until the community could rally around her, and get police on scene to help," he wrote.

"Great work by all to bring this event to a positive resolution."

Great work, indeed!

Lead photo by

Peel Police Deputy Chief Marc Andrews


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