Police Arrest a Teenager at Tate Modern After a Child Was Pushed From Its Viewing Balcony

A six-year-old boy is in
critical condition after he was allegedly thrown from the 10th
story viewing platform at London’s Tate Modern on Sunday afternoon.
A 17-year-old male, who was unknown to the child, has been arrested
on suspicion of attempted murder.

Emergency services were called
to Tate Modern shortly before 3 p.m. on Sunday, August 4, after the
boy fell five stories and landed on a roof on the gallery’s fifth
floor. The child was treated at the scene before being rushed to
hospital by an air ambulance.

The young boy is no longer in
life-threatening condition. London’s Metropolitan Police Service
has issued a statement this morning that his condition has been
assessed as “critical, but stable.”

Witnesses heard a loud bang,
followed by screams from the boy’s mother. Members of the public
present on the platform detained a man, who eye-witnesses say
remained “quite calm.” The teenager has been arrested on suspicion
of attempted murder.

“A 17-year-old male had remained with members of
the public on the tenth floor viewing platform,” a statement from
the police explains. “There is nothing to suggest that he is known
to the victim. The teenager was arrested by police officers on
suspicion of attempted murder and taken into police
custody.” 

One line of inquiry into the
incident is the mental health of the suspect, the Guardian reports.

Following the incident, museum
visitors were directed downstairs to the museum’s Turbine Hall, and
were kept inside the building as ambulances and police attended the
scene. The Tate closed for the remainder of Sunday, with the museum
posting a notice on Twitter about the incident.

“Tate is working closely with the police,” a
museum spokesperson wrote, adding, “All our thoughts are with the
child and his family.” The gallery is open today, although the viewing
platform is closed.

In 2007, a young lawyer fell to his death from a different
high-level balcony. The coroner’s verdict was accidental death,
although there was evidence that the 27-year-old had been
suicidal. A senior banker aged 48 died after falling from another
balcony in 2012. The coroner ruled that there was “no evidence
of intent or suspicious circumstances.”

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Child Was Pushed From Its Viewing Balcony appeared first on
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