A woman survived falling from a third-story window of a downtown Minneapolis apartment early Thursday, perhaps because a tree broke her fall, according to police and a spokesperson for the apartment building's owner.

The woman fell shortly before 2 a.m. from the Adams Apartments, 500 S. 10th St., police said. Minneapolis police Sgt. Steve McCarty said she was intoxicated at the time. She was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.

A screen covering the window had been removed, and the woman was seated with her legs dangling over the edge when she fell, according to Joanne Kosciolek, an apartment building spokeswoman.

"We think that potentially a tree broke her fall," said Kosciolek, who added that the woman was not directly below her window when she hit the ground. She landed on a small section of landscaping covered with wood chips along the 5th Street side of the building.

Kosciolek said the woman was a resident of the apartment building. She said police told her that the woman's injuries were serious but not considered life-threatening.

It's the second reported fall from an apartment building this week for the Twin Cities. An 11-month-old child died Tuesday after she fell from a ninth-story window in St. Paul. Investigators said she was one of a group of children playing on a bed that had been pushed up against the window when she fell.

MATT MCKinney