A man who stepped out for a cigarette was in the right place at the right time last week.
When Santee resident Antonio Jones stepped outside a restaurant in an Orange County mall for a smoke on Thursday afternoon, he saw a small child snagged by an escalator. He quickly grabbed the 4-year-old boy by the feet "mid-flight" as he started to plunge headfirst down 30 feet.
Witnesses at the Mission Viejo mall said the boy grabbed the escalator's hand rail and was carried upward.
It's very possible that Jones saved the boy's life. The child suffered some minor scrapes and bruises but will be OK.
