Girl falls 14 stories down chimney

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts) Aug 3rd 2008 4:00PM

Categories: Teens & tweens, Health & Safety

When company comes to visit, it's natural for kids to want to show them around. That's all 12-year-old Grace Bergere was doing when she climbed the chimney ladder on her Manhattan apartment building's roof, eager to show off the view to her visiting cousin. What she didn't bargain for was what she'd find at the top, the huge mouth of the chimney. Grace fell in -- possibly head first -- and fell 14 stories to the bottom.

Luckily (perhaps miraculously), Grace was not seriously hurt, with the exception of an injured hip. Authorities theorize that the two feet of soot and ashes at the bottom of the chimney broke her fall.

I'm guessing that once Grace's parents get over their shock, fear, and relief, they'll be putting some pretty firm limits on future rooftop behavior. Though they probably won't need to; a 14-story fall is probably lesson enough for Grace.
Are you a parent to a risk-taking kid? How do you keep them safe without dampening their adventuring spirit?

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Comments (9)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

pamela 8-03-2008 @ 4:52PM

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!, IM GLAD SHE'S OK, BUT INTEAD OF THE PARENTS GETTING OVER THE SHOCK, THEY SHOULD GET SOME SENCE AND MAKE SURE THE KID DOSENT GET UP ON THE ROOF AGAIN, DONT YA THINK????????????

Heza Hekele 8-03-2008 @ 5:54PM

Put them in as many child friendly, high risk sports that they like...providing they are wearing all required safety equipment, have passed all available safety training/coaching and are properly supervised by the proper adults/coaches. In a nut shell: teach the kid to get their adrenaline rush in appropriate venus and with appropriate risk management in place!

Baron 8-04-2008 @ 12:01PM

I'm glad she is ok. I'm also glad she had at least enough "adventure" (in quotes b/c getting on the rough isn't much of an adventure) to get up there and show her cousin. All the parents need to do (or land lord, depending on the living situation) is put a grate over the top of the chimney. Then she can't fall in again. I remember the fun days of running from roof top to roof top, glad to see they sorta have it still.

Jane 8-05-2008 @ 2:49PM

When this story initially appeared online (the kid fell down this chimney last Thursday, July 31) Sunday, they reported her as being not injured. This was before I read our local paper. In fact, she broke her hip, and injured/ possibly damagedsome vertabrae. She was still in -I think- intensive care, mom at her side, and had loads of stuff to help her breathe; she had some difficulth due to severe bruising. She did not break any ribs. Yes; a miricle that she wasn't more severely injured, BUT the article on aolwas just SO far off the mark on factual information. It made it sound as if this child was barely injured; like she was just casually sleeping over in the hospital, friends coming to see her and like that. SO not the case!! I feel strongly that as the building -families with kids DO live there, the kid was on the roof top deck, legal and fine for tennants to go to- WAS responsible somewhat here. JUST a little... I mean, hello; why the hell was there no grating (with a LOCK!) over this chimney which had a tantilizing-to-a-kid ladder??? Hell, I'd sue.

johnny shack 8-05-2008 @ 3:13PM

You cannot protect against every possible stupidity. This kid may be an "artist" but she had no business being unsupervised late at night. But I guess that is just part of the cool/hip Manhattan lifestyle. Lesson learned--hopefully.

Suzi Muliolis 8-05-2008 @ 3:12PM

My daughter was a daredevil kid. No amount of punishment nor spanking would deter this kid. What we did to keep her safe was put her in gymnastics and any sport that her schools offered her and enlisted her in as many safety programs as were available. She has since grown, but still maintains her adventurous spirit. It will be interesting ro see if she has any kids that are like her--I have wished upon her 10!! LOL

johnny shack 8-05-2008 @ 3:13PM

Sue? Soo? Sioux? Geez, who woulda thought that some 12-y-o urchin was going to climb to the rooftop at midnight and take a swan dive down the chimney. I don't think that even Frank L. Wright would have put the cage-over-chimney concept into one of his drawings.
You cannot protect against every stupid act--intentional or not.

Debbie 8-05-2008 @ 3:23PM

The kid went on the roof all by herself. She climbed into the chimney all by herself. There was no supervision. Now, does anyone smell a lawsuit. Not that there should be one for the reasons stated above. However, you can sue for the stupid things that you or your kids do even if it is your own fault! What a wonderful country we live in.

tekkii 8-05-2008 @ 3:31PM

I bet you would have to drag her up to the roof now !

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