6-year-old recovers after being found unconscious in Gastonia home

GASTONIA, N.C. — A 6-year-old was rushed to the hospital after her mother found her unconscious in their home on Balthis Drive.

Gastonia police were called after a report of the child found hanging by a cloth material.

Channel 9 learned that Josiah Brown Coleman is doing much better.

In the shadows of the breezeway, the man who helped raise the little girl covered his face, still trying to absorb it.

Police didn't give details, but determined the incident was an accident.

"We have to treat it with the utmost care and respect because our children deserve that,” said Capt. Rodney Aldridge, of the Gastonia Police Department.

Neighbor Gregory Blair said the mother ran to his apartment looking for help.

Blair said he saw medics working to revive the girl, who was unconscious and not breathing when they arrived.

He said the mother of five called her children to come and eat, and one child told her that his sister appeared to be dead.

"To see anybody go through stuff like this is tough, but it's even tougher when it's a child,” Blair said. "She told him (her child) don't play like that. That's not funny, and so she got up and went to the back and found her daughter unresponsive."

Blair said he saw the girl on the couch surrounded by emergency workers.

"I told her they were here to help her and they were going to make her feel better,” Blair said.

Medics got her breathing again and Blair heard the girl cry.

"It just gave me a little glimmer of hope that everything was going to be just fine,” Blair said.

The girl was transferred her to Levine Children's Hospital.

Police said the little girl could be released from the hospital as soon as Thursday.

Cox Media Group