Toddler Hit By Crumbling NYC Windowsill Dies

The 2-year-old girl struck by a falling piece of Manhattan windowsill from eight stories above while sitting on a bench with her grandmother died yesterday after hours of surgeons' efforts, reports the New York Times. Greta Greene sustained a head injury on Sunday while outside the Esplanade Luxury Senior Residences on West End Avenue, where Greta's grandmother, Susan Frierson, lives. The Times notes that though the city requires facade inspections every five years, deaths from falling objects aren't entirely uncommon: Nine people were killed between 2009 and 2014 (those killed by falling construction items are part of that total).

Esplanade was last inspected in 2011. The Times explains that a comprehensive inspection is cost-prohibitive, so NYC practice is to scan buildings with binoculars and pore over a "small, representative section" of the building. "There’s a chance you won't see every single break, and there’s a chance it wasn't broken until later," says the engineer who last inspected the building. (More Manhattan stories.)