FALLS CHURCH, VA -- Laraib Zaidi still sees her son's broken body every time she closes her eyes.
It's been just over two months since the toddler fell from the 26th floor of the Skyline Towers in Falls Church.
This week, another child died in a horrifyingly similar fall. And a third child was almost killed in a fall from the 5th floor.
Now, the Zaidis are speaking out, suing the building's owners, and demanding the apartment managers do more to keep children safe.
"I was trying to lift him up, and the blood was coming out of his mouth. That scene always comes in front of my eyes," said Lariab Zaidi, remembering in tears how she raced to the grass in front of the building after her sone Syed, 3, tumbled through the window screen of his parents' 26th floor apartment. "I can't sleep at night, because that vision always come to me, like he was lying in front of me."
Syed died on May 30th. This Monday, another child was killed after climbing over the balcony railing just two floors below the Zaidis' apartment. And three years ago, a little girl miraculously survived after falling through a window on the fifth floor of the very same building.
"I want answers. What did they do after the first incident? What did they do after the second incident? What did they do after the third incident? Are we waiting for another one," asked Syed Rasheed Zaidi, the little boy's father.
The Zaidis just sued the managers of Skyline Towers, demanding $100 million for alleged negligence and Syed's wrongful death.
The Skyline Towers and Equity Residential Properties decline to comment on the lawsuit, but the companies have offered they're "thoughts and prayers" to the families.
"It's not about the money. It's not about the lawsuit," said the father.
The family said it's just trying to warn other parents, and push the companies to do more to keep children safe.
"I don't want this to happen to any other child," said Laraib.
The Zaidis said the least the building could do is install labels on the window screens to warn parents that they won't keep a child inside.
The current Virginia building code requires windows only open four inches if they are within a child's easy reach. But Skyline Towers was built in the 1970s. And the building code does not mandate that owners bring apartments up to the current standards.
