Last pic of Nico Carter on balcony before tot plunged to death revealed
Explore More
The last picture ever taken of 1-year-old Nico Carter showed the “hidden” danger he was in just moments before he plunged nine stories off a balcony in Mexico.
The tot is seen standing next to a sliding glass door overlooking a Puerto Vallarta beach, with one foot hanging over the edge of a narrow balcony, in a photograph included in his parents’ new wrongful death suit against Hyatt Hotels.
To his right, a floor-level window panel underneath a railing was missing, without any cones, warnings or caution tape to alert his parents — James Carter and Anastacia Duboshina — to the danger.
The sliding door seemed to partially block off the balcony — but left just enough room for the toddler to pass through.
“Since the panels are clear, it was not possible for the Carters to visibly discern that one of the panels was absent,” their federal suit accusing Hyatt of negligence and misconduct says.
“The danger was invisible.”
The suit claims Nico was playing on the ninth-floor balcony on Oct. 11, 2021, when he slipped through the missing glass panel at the Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta.
“Nico was standing right there in front of me. You couldn’t see that there was a missing glass panel. I watched my son die in front of me,” his grieving dad told CBS 8.
Duboshina, meanwhile, had been packing snacks for the family, when she heard her husband scream in terror.
“Anastacia walked out of the hotel room door to let James and Nico know she was ready, when she suddenly heard a horrible scream from her husband,” the suit claims.
“Nico had stepped onto the balcony between the open sliding door and the part of the railing that was missing the panel, and plunged more than 100 feet below to a concrete deck area.”
“In a fraction of a second, my life went from being everything to nothing,” Duboshina said of the harrowing moment.
“My world crashed into pieces in one second,” she told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
She said Nico’s death was “so senseless and so completely preventable,” as Carter explained that they purposely decided to stay in a Hyatt Hotel due to its reputation of being a safe, family-friendly environment.
“We booked our hotel to stay at Hyatt and we booked Hyatt because we thought there’d be some safety standards there, you know?” he told CBS 8.
“They preach and promote a family-friendly, safety-oriented hotel and the last thing you expect is a missing balcony window pane on the ninth floor.”
The couple says they now want justice for their son’s untimely death, which occurred just weeks before his second birthday. They are seeking an unspecified amount in damages.
“We want them to take responsibility for what they’ve done,” Duboshina said. “Because no parent should go through what we’re going through. It’s so painful.”
She added that she hopes the hospitality industry will take the lawsuit seriously as a warning to ensure safety measures in hotels.
“Hopefully, maybe, by filing this lawsuit, if we prevent one death of another child, the mission is accomplished; our child didn’t die for nothing,” she said, describing Nico as “the best thing that ever happened to me, the sweetest boy ever.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Hyatt Hotels said: “While it is our policy not to comment on potential or pending litigation, Hyatt has worked closely with Playa Hotels & Resorts, the operator of Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta, in an effort to ensure a complete and transparent investigation since this tragedy occurred in October 2021.
“The safety and security of our guests continues to be our highest priority, and our hearts remain with the family following this unimaginable loss.”
ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3R7kGlmamtfoa60wIypoJxln5t6r7XCqGScmaKpsrN5zqdkm5mcmLyvxYybnJ%2Bnopp6tbvTZqelrZ6csqV506hknZ2RqbVuvsSvnJqklZl8