Sept. 10 -- Two Chicago police officers were being credited with helping save a 7-year-old boy who was tossed from a burning home Sunday afternoon on the city’s Southeast Side.
The fire occurred in a two-family home at 3:45 p.m. in the 10000 block of South Avenue L, according to Chicago police and fire officials.
The two South Chicago District officers were assisting firefighters at the rear of the home when a second-floor resident, a 69-year-old man, called to them, pleading for help for his 7-year-old grandson who was trapped inside, according to police and Fire Department spokesman Cmdr. Frank Velez.
The grandfather removed the window, held the reluctant boy out and dropped him down to the officers on the ground, Velez said. The officers caught the boy and rushed him to a waiting ambulance that took him to Comer Children’s Hospital for treatment.
Firefighters later located the grandfather inside the home and took him to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, authorities said.
Velez hailed the officers as heroes but said the fire displaced about nine residents, including a family with four children on the first floor.
The cause of the blaze wasn’t immediately known.
___ (c)2018 the Chicago Tribune Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
