9-Month-Old Girl Survives 12-Foot Fall

Ashley Nicole Webb, a bright-eyed, 9-month-old baby, had been crawling for about a month.

Her mother Gina Webb was pleased by the baby’s agility. But that pleasure turned to horror on Wednesday as Ashley pushed open a screen door of her apartment, crawled onto a second-floor balcony and slid under the railing.

The baby fell 12 feet to an asphalt parking lot. Miraculously, she survived the fall. “She landed on a rolled-up garden hose, and we think that’s what saved her,” said the baby’s grandmother, Jeri Roach on Thursday. “The doctors tell us that she’s going to be fine.”

The baby suffered head injuries and was taken first to Humana Hospital-Westminster then to Memorial Miller Children’s Hospital of Long Beach. A Memorial Miller hospital spokesman said the baby had been moved out of intensive care and was listed in good condition Thursday.

“This was a very lucky baby,” Fire Capt. Scott Freeman said. “It could have broken its neck in the fall.”

Roach said the screen door had been latched before the baby crawled out to the balcony. “We’re getting a new screen door; the latch just didn’t hold,” she said.

Roach said the accident occurred about 5 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after she had gone to work. Roach’s daughters, Gina Webb, 20, and Dana Roach, 16, were caring for Ashley, who had been crawling on the living-room floor.

“Dana, my younger daughter, was in the bedroom getting ready to go to work, and Gina went into a room to get her purse because she was going to drive Dana to work,” Roach said. The grandmother added that the baby was alone for only a few seconds.

“All of a sudden they heard screaming and crying, and our neighbor from the apartment down below yelled that they’d better call paramedics,” Roach said.

Fire Capt. Freeman said the downstairs neighbor was the first to reach the baby. The neighbor told paramedics that the baby “was stunned at first after the fall and didn’t cry but started crying 30 seconds afterwards.” Freeman said the baby’s mother carried the baby upstairs to their apartment. Paramedics arrived a few minutes later and gave the child first aid.

“I think prayers and the garden hose made the difference,” Roach said. “We try to be good tenants, and we always roll up the garden hose. And that’s where Ashley fell.”