Victim's mom speaks out after teens fall from window

(Newark - WABC, November 8, 2007) (WABC) -- Two teenage girls risked their lives trying to avoid one of their parents who had learned they were drinking alcohol at an apartment in Newark. The result was an ill-fated escape that led to a five-story fall. Both girls are now in the hospital.

Eyewitness News reporter Anthony Johnson has the latest.

This is certainly the kind of story that would make anyone shake their head. That is because the mother of one of the victims claims that the mother of another 14-year-old is the one responsible for buying these girls alcohol from a nearby liquor store. The mother also says that any desperate attempts that she made to get help for her daughter, fell on "deaf ears."

"My daughter is hurt now and I don't have no help, I'm a single parent," the victim's mother, Tiana Spencer, said.

Tiana Spencer says her 14-year-old daughter, Shanay Spencer, has drifted down the path of drugs and alcohol and has become a chronic runaway. There were apparently numerous attempts to get help for the teen, but it appears no one responded.

"When I asked for help, nobody helped me," Tiana Spencer said. "Now my daughter caused herself to get hurt and everybody wants to help me now. It's too late."

The two girls, 14 and 15 years old, are terribly hurt and in surgery. Police say an angry parent heard the teens in the apartment partying without supervision and that they were drinking alcohol.

When Spencer realized that her daughter and another 15-year-old victim had been drinking last night, she called police. But before they arrived, the two girls decided to tie sheets together and escape punishment out a fifth-floor window. Unfortunately, their plan, and the sheets, unraveled.

The teens fell five floors, some 50 feet, breaking a lot of bones and suffering numerous injuries.

"Her whole jaw is broke is broke on both sides, she's got to have an operation," Tiana Spencer said. "Her mouth is split, she knocked out six teeth. The other little girl, her pelvis is broke, her hip is broke. But nobody wanted to help me and this other lady when we were telling them that these kids are running away."

Both girls were rushed to the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, where they are listed in stable condition. Their injuries are not considered life threatening, but Spencer says all parents need to help their children, find those kids who are headed down the path to destruction.

"Make sure they're alright," she said. "Make sure they are not dying on the inside. My daughter is hurt now."

The incident happened at 860 South 11th Street in Newark, New Jersey. Police are still looking for the person responsible for buying the girls the alcohol. They are just lucky to be alive.

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