Chinese policewoman in coma after saving girl, 3, in deadly plunge from fourth-floor window

An auxiliary police officer from southern China is recovering in hospital after risking her life to save a little girl who had fallen from a fourth-storey window, according to a local newspaper report.

Chen Zhongping was on traffic duty last week in the city of Kaili, Guizhou province, when she was alerted to an incident at a block of flats nearby. When she arrived at the scene she looked up to see a three-year-old child climbing out of a window four floors up, Guiyang Evening News reported over the weekend.

Moments later the youngster lost her grip and fell. Chen and three bystanders ran to help, and although a rain canopy slowed the girl’s descent, the police officer took the brunt of the impact as the child crashed into her outstretched arms instead of onto the floor.

The little girl was taken to hospital to be treated for a broken leg, but it was her saviour Chen who paid the bigger price for her heroic act.

Such was the force of the impact that the 49-year-old suffered a brain haemorrhage and fell into a coma for two days. Chen regained consciousness on Friday, but is still being treated for her injuries in intensive care, the report said.

The child’s mother, who was not named, expressed her gratitude to the woman who saved her daughter.

“We thank Auntie Chen for her help,” she was quoted as saying. “My daughter would have died without Chen’s help. From now on I will regard her as my second mother.”

The report said that representatives of the Kaili city government and public security bureau had visited Chen in hospital and promised to do all they could to help her recover.

According to the report, the child had tried to climb out of the window after being spooked by a locksmith who had been called to the flat.

The girl’s grandmother, who had been looking after her, locked herself out when she went downstairs to put out the trash while the child was sleeping.

Several neighbours said they saw the youngster climbing out of the window, but before they had chance to react she had fallen, the report said.