New York bus driver turns lifesaver as girl plunges from tower block

What could have been a tragic accident turned into a heroic rescue after a seven-year-old girl fell from a third-floor window in New York.

Neighbour, Steve St. Bernard, ran to the autistic girl's aid and caught her as she tumbled to the ground.

In a video shot by witnesses, the young girl can be seen moving about on top of an air-conditioning unit on the third floor of her family's Coney Island apartment, before falling off.

Steve said he willed himself to make the life-saving catch.

Steve is now being hailed as a hero for his quick thinking, but the bus driver insists his actions were just instinctive.

Miraculously the girl was unharmed in the rescue, although the man who caught her hurt his arm.