New York woman holding baby falls from 8th floor to her death - 12 News KBMT and K-JAC. News, Weather and Sports for SE Texas

By Julie Cannold and Lateef Mungin

A woman plunged to her death from the eighth floor of an apartment building in New York, with her baby clutched in her arms.

The 10-month-old boy miraculously survived and was in critical but stable condition at a Harlem hospital Thursday, police said.

Bystanders were shocked when they saw the 45-year-old mother fall Wednesday afternoon.

"I wish I never witnessed that," Steven Dominguez told CNN affiliate WPIX. "It's disturbing, and horrible. The baby bounced off her chest onto the floor, face down and was crying. My mother tried to pick up the baby, but there was already a detective there."

Investigators are trying to determine whether it was a suicide, said Brian Sessa, a spokesman for the New York Police Department.

But one neighbor said he heard yelling coming from the woman's apartment before she fell.

The woman was arguing with a man, said Christian Johnson, a neighbor.

"I came home, they were arguing," Johnson told WPIX. "I actually stopped to listen, and I heard screaming and the baby was crying. He just kept saying why wouldn't you pick up the phone, why would you put that stress on me? Why wouldn't you pick up the phone, why, why? He was screaming, 'why, why'?"

Police did not release the name of the victim, but neighbors said she was a lawyer and was married.