'Hero' Catches Girl After Three-Storey Fall

A New York City bus driver has been hailed a hero after he caught a seven-year-old girl when she fell from a third storey window.

Stephen St Bernard was on his way home from work in Coney Island when he spotted the child standing precariously on an air conditioning unit outside a window.

As he tried to persuade her to go back in to the building, she suddenly fell.

The dramatic moment was caught on video by a witness using a mobile phone.

Mr St Bernard broke her fall with his arms, tearing a tendon in his shoulder as he did so.

"I just prayed that I'd catch her," he said.

"'Please let me catch her, please let me catch her,' that's all I could say.

"I picked her up and carried her. She kept looking around. She never closed her eyes. She never lost consciousness."

The girl was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

It is not clear how or why she was on the air conditioning unit.

Police said no charges were being filed against the parents.