DENVER, Colorado (Fox News), November 11, 2007:According to the Denver Fire Department a woman, now identified as 88-year-old Carrie Griffin, fell from a third story window just after 7 o'clock last night at the Sunrise Assisted Living Center in Cherry Creek.
Bethanye Krushall, who says she was fired after the accident, says she was working on the thrid floor when the accident happened. "I heard one of my coworkers run up and say she had fell, I ran to see what had happened and she was downstairs, hurt badly," Krushall told us.
According to Krushall, and a current employee who asked not to be named, Griffin lived on a floor for residents suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The problem, according to both whistle-blowers, is that the third floor, which houses the most vulnerable, and unpredictable residents, is the only floor with windows that open all the way. Other floors, they allege, have windows with stoppers built in. Windows that could possibly have prevented the fall.
Griffin had lifted the entire window off it's tracks according to Krushall. She's shining light on the Sunrise center now, she says, to keep the accident from happening again.
A spokesperson for the Sunrise Assisted Living Center said tonight that they are doing their own internal investigation, and their thoughts are with the victim's family.
We specifically asked the executive director of the center about the windows on the third floor, and he declined to comment.
