Three-year-old falls 8 stories from window at high-rise building in Independence

Update: A police spokeswoman announced Monday afternoon that the child injured in the fall from Independence Towers has died. That story is posted here.

A 3-year-old boy suffered critical injuries after falling about eight stories out of an apartment window at an Independence high-rise, a fire department spokesman said.

Firefighters responded shortly after 10:05 a.m. to provide medical aid to a child who had fallen from the high-rise apartment building at Independence Towers, 728 N. Jennings Road, said Battalion Chief Eric Michel with the Independence Fire Department.

Upon their arrival, crews discovered that the child suffered multiple serious injuries after falling approximately eight stories from an apartment window.

The boy was was rushed to a hospital and immediately transferred to another Kansas City hospital, Michel said.

Independence police were investigating the fall, according to Officer Kelley Rupert, a spokeswoman for the Independence Police Department.

Elliot West, a longtime resident of the building, on Monday said “everyone” in the building had their windows open because the central air conditioning at the building has not been working the whole summer.

“The building is technically supposed to have a central AC unit run off of a chiller, that chiller is not working,” West said. “They really haven’t had anyone up there to fix it, as much as they’d like to claim that they have.”

West said she did not know the family whose child was injured, but said residents planned to find a way to support them.

“I’m hoping – I’m not even religious, but I’m praying – that the kid is going to be OK,” she said. “That kid is way too young to lose his or her life.”

Trigild Inc., the company managing the property, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Problems at Independence Towers

Lack of air conditioning is just one of the problems that have recently plagued the 122-unit apartment building.

Earlier this year, residents joined KC Tenants, a tenant union, to complain of cockroaches, mice and other pests. They also said that during the summer, there is frequently no air conditioning and in the winter, no heat.

In previous interviews with The Star, tenant have described poor living conditions in the building, which until this spring was managed by Tango Management, which is owned by FTW Investments, a company that managed a complex The Star reported on in January 2023 for leaving tenants for days without heat in the winter.

A Jackson County judge in May appointed Trigild Inc. as receiver of the property, after FTW Investment allegedly failed to pay back Fannie Mae for the loan and maintaining the building according to the loan agreement.

An arson fire in June displaced 27 residents across three floors of the apartment building. Jackson County prosecutors charged 22-year-old Destiny R. Kley with first-degree arson. She remains in Jackson County jail on $50,000 bond.

Previous incident in KC

Last November another child, 5-year-old Grayson O’Conner, died when he fell 17 stories from a downtown Kansas City high-rise apartment.

A grand jury indicted his mother, 28-year-old Corrinne O’Connor, on one felony count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child , leading to the death of her son.

O’Connor allegedly removed safety devices from the window of her apartment that would have prevented the window from opening more than a few inches, according to an eviction petition from the apartment building.

Neighbors said the household was often low on food and Grayson was frequently unsupervised. He sometimes was seen wandering the building or heard banging on the door of his apartment when he was left by himself. They say Missouri’s Department of Social Services was aware of problems at his home.

O’Connor’s jury trial has been set for Jan. 13.

The Star’s Noelle Alviz-Gransee contributed.