Toddler Falls from Fifth Story Balcony, But Is Caught by Postal Workers

In China.

They didn't have any time to plan this attempt to break her fall but... if you watch the video, they seem to all do the exact right thing in coordination with each other. I suppose people, especially men, have a lot of practice at catching things, but it's still kind of neat they they essentially form a circle around the point to which she'll fall and extend their arms out full to slow her down.

I just think it's kind of neat that they all instinctively know How to Catch a Falling Child in a Group, though of course none of them has ever done it before or given it any thought at all. And this all happens in a second.*

They actually didn't catch her; her body blew through their improvised basket of arms. But they did slow her down enough that she immediately got up to stand after hitting the ground.

* There's a factoid that gets passed around sometimes that the actual math required to calculate the correct intercept point for a flying ball -- that is, where to put your hand to catch it -- is seriously ferocious and yet we figure that out in a split second with no math.

posted by Ace at 06:35 PM

| Access Comments