DCFS investigates child’s fatal fall from 3rd-floor window in Lawndale

State child welfare authorities are investigating the death of a 2-year-old boy who fell from a third-story window Thursday night in Lawndale on the Southwest Side.

The boy fell about 8:20 p.m. from a home in the 1500 block of South St. Louis Avenue and suffered blunt force trauma, according to the Chicago police and fire departments.

He apparently fell through a window screen, according to Officer Jennifer Bryk, a police spokeswoman. A parent noticed that a screen was missing from a window and discovered that the boy had fallen.

He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:57 p.m., police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating an allegation of neglect against the parent who was present when the boy fell, department spokesman Jassen Strokosch said.

He said the department conducted a prior investigation involving the family in October of 2018, but that case was determined to be unfounded.

Area Central detectives are investigating the incident as a non-criminal death, Bryk said. No one is being questioned as of Friday afternoon.

Autopsy results were pending, the medical examiner’s office said.