Child, 5, Survives Three-Story Fall from Cascades Balcony

A 5-year-old child was taken to Inova Loudoun Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after surviving a three-story fall from an apartment balcony in Sterling. A responding deputy with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office also pulled a 4-year-old from the balcony.

Deputy Casey Johnson responded to the scene at a Cascades apartment complex near Corkwood Drive and Ridgehaven Terrace around 8:30 July 27 to assist in the rescue after the 5-year-old’s fall was reported.

As Loudoun County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services personnel arrived to care for the fallen child, Johnson saw a second child, 4, hanging outside the railing of a third-floor balcony.

The deputy called to the girl to hang on and not move, and then ran up three flights of steps to the apartment. As Johnson attempted to gain entry to the home, an adult female resident opened the door. Johnson went immediately to the balcony and pulled the younger child back over the rail.

According to a press release from the sheriff’s office, the children were out on the balcony when the older child climbed over the railing and fell. The younger child then climbed over the railing in an attempt to help her cousin.

It's not completely clear whether the woman in the apartment was aware of the fall or the other child on the balcony.

"That's still under investigation," said LCSO spokesman Kraig Troxell. "It does not appear she was aware."

Troxell also said the woman was the only person in the apartment with the children.

Deputy Johnson joined the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in 2008 and is assigned to Patrol in the Field Operations Division.

Child Protective Services has been contacted.