A video of a mother stopping her toddler from falling over the side of a balcony is going viral as yet another example of a parent valiantly—and kind of magically—saving their child.
The video was acquired from surveillance footage shot at the Laureles Colonial office building in Medellin, according to Colombian daily El Espectador. It portrays a mother and her son exiting an elevator together, followed by a delivery man. Mom pulls out her phone, letting go of her son’s hand in the process.
He immediately walks up to a railing adjacent to the elevator and crouches down, straining to see what’s below. He stumbles forward, crouched, and runs through the railing posts.
The mother notices what is going on and rushes toward him. She reaches between the posts and clutches his ankle at the last second as he flips upside down in midair. The delivery man rushes down the steps, likely thinking the kid has fallen, but the mother is able to pull the boy up as four ladies from the office come out to aid, seeing what’s going on through the glass wall.
Following the release of the video, several people chastised the mother for being on her phone, which doesn’t seem fair given that it’s unknown why she was on it or that it was the reason her child was able to go.
Others pointed out the huge space between the fence posts, which is dangerous and may even be against the law. Hopefully, this will be fixed after this video goes viral.