Hero catches tot as she falls from high window

Plucky immigrant honored for quick-thinking act that saved toddler

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Jaimen Ortiz, 29, receives a Certificate of Recognition from the Arlington County Board in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday. Ortiz, who is originally from Guatemala, caught a 2-year-old girl when she fell from a window in October.

Get weird & wonderful news on Twitter

Looking for more strange and fun stories and oddball videos? Follow @msnbc_wow.

Video: Wonderful World

Swimsuit Santas run for charity
Dec. 8: Runners dressed as Santa run through the streets of Budapest, Hungary, to raise money for cystic fibrosis. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.

World's largest ice rink

Saving the last wild horses from extinction

WWII plane pulled from Lake Michigan

On T-Day, Grandma delivers baby, dinner

Your turn!

Inspirational athletes
In honor of the 2008 Olympics, we're celebrating the athletes in your own life who inspire greatness.

updated 11:43 a.m. ET Dec. 13, 2006

ARLINGTON, Va. — It took a second or two for Jaimen Ortiz to fully comprehend what he was seeing: two toddlers playing in an open second-floor window, and one of them hanging from the window sill.

So Ortiz hopped a fence and ran to the apartment building. Just as he got there, the 2-year-old girl fell, screaming. Ortiz put out his arms and caught her cleanly, perhaps saving her life and certainly preventing serious injury.

"If I had delayed one more second, she would have fallen to the ground," Ortiz said through a Spanish interpreter, recalling the Oct. 13 incident.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Ortiz's quick thinking was honored Tuesday in Arlington, where the County Board presented him a certificate of recognition for his heroism.

The 29-year-old seemed slightly overwhelmed by the attention he received Tuesday as he fielded multiple interview requests.

"I have a 5-year-old child, and you never know. Maybe someday he might need help like I was able to give to this girl," he said.

While Ortiz was unaccustomed to the recognition, it's not the first time he has been a hero. As a teenager growing up in Guatemala, he helped save the wife of a friend from drowning.

The toddlers' father has been charged with reckless endangerment.