By John Futty
Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two toddlers in diapers were on the front porch and their mother and two siblings were trapped upstairs in a burning North Linden apartment yesterday when two Columbus police officers arrived to help.
But the sight of the officers sent one of the toddlers scurrying back into the smoke-filled living room.
Officer Robb Carter grabbed the remaining boy on the porch of 1754 Milford Ave. while his partner, Officer Timothy Stout, chased the other boy inside.
“The smoke was so thick that all I could do was follow the white of his back and his diaper,” Stout said. “The couch and a chair and the wall to my left were on fire.”
Firefighters arrived seconds after Stout carried the boy safely outside. They rescued the mother and two other boys from the second floor, and those three were taken to Columbus hospitals in critical condition.
A family friend identified the victims as Evelyn Lawson, 28, Derick Robinson, 5, and Darren Robinson, 3. Fire officials said Lawson was taken to Ohio State University Medical Center with second-degree burns to her arms, hands and face and smoke inhalation. Derick, with second- and third-degree burns to 40 percent of his body, and Darren, with smoke inhalation, went to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
“The fire started in the couch by the front window,” Battalion Chief Jim Flynn said. “It was one of two things: Either somebody left a cigarette in there or the kids were playing with fire.”
The officers were on patrol at 2:51 p.m. when they saw smoke and followed it to the four-unit apartment building at the northwest corner of Cleveland and Milford avenues.
Sean Rogers, 42, saw the smoke while riding his motorcycle and arrived just as the officers were emerging with the two toddlers.
“To see that white uniform coming through that black smoke with those children was something,” he said. “Those officers deserve so much credit.”
The mother remained upstairs, screaming for help. Rogers, who lives nearby, said he went behind the building and saw Lawson at an upstairs window, clutching a small child.
“I was yelling for her to open the window and drop the baby, but I don’t know if she could hear me.”
He said firefighters brought her and two children down the stairs and out the front door.
Stout, 30, and Carter, 32, said officers are trained not to run into burning buildings because they might need to be rescued themselves, but Stout said he felt he had to chase the child.
The two children they rescued were identified by the family friend as Dillon Robinson, 2, and Darren Robinson, 3. They were taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital as a precaution, Smith said.
Copyright 2009 Columbus Dispatch