LOS ANGELES – A mother and father who were caught in a burning apartment building dropped their two children into the arms of a sheriff's deputy early Tuesday, officials said. No one was seriously injured.
Deputy Jeff Kim and a colleague were flagged down in the Watts neighborhood at 2:50 a.m. by a truck driver who saw flames coming from the building, sheriff's Sgt. Ed Luevano said.
Kim first caught a 1-year-old girl who was dropped by the mother from a second-floor window, Luevano said. Then the children's father appeared and dropped a 9-year-old boy, he said.
Kim suffered smoke inhalation and an apparent mouth injury from falling down under the weight of the older child, he said.
"He was right time, right place and all that," said Luevano, who was at the scene.
The children and parents appeared to be uninjured, he said, adding that the mother also jumped from the second floor.
Firefighters were investigating the cause of the blaze, Luevano said.
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