New York City bus driver Steve St. Bernard can add “hero” to his resume after saving a 7-year-old girl who fell yesterday from the third-floor window of a Cony Island apartment building.
The child, who reportedly is autistic, was dancing on top of an air conditioner installed outside the window of her family’s apartment.
Bernard was walking home when he heard cries from a crowd of onlookers outside the Cony Island Houses.
“I thought to myself, let me get over there and catch her,” St. Bernard told the Daily News. “I just hope I don’t drop her.”
The girl was able to climb out of the window by pushing aside the accordion-shaped plastic partition that holds the air conditioner in place, witnesses said to the Daily News.
When the girl fell, St. Bernard was there to catch her. “I just prayed that I’d catch her,” St. Bernard said.
The girl was then taken to Cony Island Hospital. Both the girl and St. Bernard suffered no extensive injuries.
Police said no charges would be brought against the girl’s parents.
Though he saved a young girl’s life, St. Barnard also told the Daily News he doesn’t consider himself a hero. “Anybody would have done it. I did it out of normal instincts,” he said.
