Nice Catch

A local story of a guy in the right place, at the right time, and who acted when he was the only one who could:

It was the catch of a lifetime...and that 'good catch' by a San Diego man may have saved the life of a 4 year old boy.


21-year old Antonio Jones was at the Mission Viejo Mall Friday with his girlfriend.


The couple craved a burger from Islands Restaurant.


Jones was standing outside the restaurant on the ground floor when he noticed little Jimmy Lavin get tangled in an upstairs escalator.


The escalator hand-rail pulled Lavin upstairs to the second floor.


In an instant, the sobbing boy was carried upward as he dangled off the staircase.


Jones was a few steps away when Lavin hit the top wall was knocked off the escalator rail.


The boy plummeted 30 feet head-first toward the concrete walkway.


Jones reacted... jumping forward and catching the child with one hand on each leg.


It was a near perfect catch... Lavin's head just barely touched the ground.


The child was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for a minor bump on the noggin and released.


Jones is being credited for saving the boy's life.

KTLA got one thing wrong in the story - it didn't happen at the Mission Viejo Mall but at the Kaleidoscope Center near by.  That's where Islands is located.  I ate dinner there a couple of weeks ago, but fortunately there were no kids falling from the escalator.

As I understand from reading another article Jones was outside Islands catching a quick smoke when this happened.  Looks like this is one situation in which smoking saved a life.