Mother Throws Child to Safety as Torrington Park Staircase Collapses

A moment of panic turned into an extraordinary act of bravery yesterday when Shanice Dixon, fearing for her two-year-old daughter’s safety, threw the child from a second-floor balcony into the arms of a waiting neighbor. The incident unfolded around 2 p.m. at an apartment building in Torrington Park, St Andrew, after the staircase connecting the second and first floors suddenly collapsed.

“Mi inna di house and just hear ‘budum,’ so mi think seh [the building] a come down,” an emotional Dixon said. “All mi could a duh was throw di baby because mi seh even if mi dead, she nah dead.”

The collapse left several residents stranded on the upper floors of the four-storey building and injured 59-year-old Althia Mackintosh, the grandmother of Dixon’s child.

Residents Demand Urgent Action

Frustrated residents, many of whom have lived in the building for decades, are now pleading for immediate intervention. They allege that the building has been neglected for years despite repeated calls for repairs.

“A long time this a gwan and we need it fi deal wid it,” said Mel, a 36-year resident of the building.

She expressed concern for the numerous children who live in the building, often running up and down the now-compromised staircases. “It could a happen to dem!” she exclaimed, noting that residents met with the National Housing Trust (NHT) last September, but promised repairs have yet to materialize.

“Dem seh dem a guh start the work November last year, and all now the work nuh start,” she said. “Suh mi wah know if a wait dem a wait pan smaddi fi dead before dem come fix up di place.”

Structural Issues Exposed

When visited, residents highlighted widespread structural problems, including cracked walls, damaged railings, and exposed steel where concrete had eroded.

Opposition Leader and Member of Parliament for South St Andrew, Mark Golding, was on-site and voiced his frustration at the incident.

“This is a long-standing issue,” Golding said. “Engineers have come here, done assessments, but, for whatever reason, they haven’t done the work. This could have been avoided had the process just been implemented expeditiously.”

Golding, who said he knows Mackintosh personally, revealed that he has written to authorities over the past four years, urging them to address the building’s condition.

Immediate Intervention Needed

Golding stressed that urgent engineering solutions are now necessary to ensure the safety of the residents, especially as 16 of the building’s 48 apartments are inaccessible due to the collapsed staircase.

“This situation needs immediate attention to make the building safe and accessible,” he said, adding that the lives of residents—many of whom are children—remain at risk.

The incident has once again highlighted the dangers of neglecting public housing infrastructure and the need for decisive action to prevent further tragedies.