A toddler who fell to his death from a hotel balcony may have climbed over the safety railing instead of squeezing through its vertical protective slats, as was previously thought, the city medical examiner's office said yesterday.

But the boy's father, David Shpigler, stood by the family's account that 3-year-old Samuel Shpigler somehow got through a 5-inch-wide gap between the balcony railing slats before falling eight stories to the ground New Year's Day.

"That's not what happened," David Shpigler said by telephone from his office in Nyack, N.Y. "He went through the slats. The fact that they are not able to rule it out does not change what happened."

The city's Department of the Medical Examiner last week concluded that the boy's cause of death was "multiple internal injuries due to a fall from a height" and was ruled an accident.

But Dr. William Goodhue, the city's first deputy medical examiner, wanted to revisit the balcony of the Ali'i Tower of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. On Jan. 3, he and an investigator measured the slat widths and railing height and his investigator interviewed the Shpiglers and their children.

"We took appropriate measurements at the scene," Goodhue said yesterday. "This information and my autopsy findings lead me to say that I cannot exclude that Samuel Shpigler may have climbed over the railing of their hotel room balcony and fallen to his death."

Goodhue would not elaborate further, stating that his conclusions will be part of the written autopsy report when it is released in about four weeks.

Samuel Shpigler had gotten out on the balcony with two young siblings without the rest of the family knowing. Honolulu police have said that the only witness was the oldest of those siblings — a 6-year-old boy.

"We have spoken to them many times," said David Shpigler, who buried his youngest son Monday. "They have been very consistent in what they told us."

Shpigler said the children were not allowed on the hotel room's balcony without adult supervision.

"They were out there when we were not aware they were out there," he said. "They were able to open the door and get out there. When you check into a hotel room they give you a key to the minibar, but they don't give you a key to the balcony. Children are safe from getting to alcohol but not from getting on the balcony."

Cynthia Rankin, a spokeswoman for the Hilton, yesterday said the hotel rooms do not come with keys to the sliding glass door on the balcony. However, they do have a double latching system to secure the door.

"There are building codes that require what is necessary for locks on doors and what is needed for railings," Rankin said. "Hilton Hawaiian Village is complying with building codes. A physical key that you can put in your pocket is not a building code requirement. It isn't in any hotel in Hawai'i."

At 5 inches wide, the gap between the vertical slats on the balcony meets city building codes, but based on an outdated standard not used since 1997.

The 5-inch gap would not be allowed under new construction. It's legal, though, because the hotel followed city building codes in effect when the railings were first installed.

City building codes now state the gap between vertical slats installed in new buildings, or as part of a remodeling job, cannot be wider than 4 inches.

The handrail also has a minimum height mandated by city building codes: 42 inches. Henry Eng, director of the city's Department of Planning and Permitting, said yesterday that the Ali'i Tower meets that standard. The hotel confirmed that.

Shpigler described his son as "average-sized." He did not think that a 5-inch-wide gap was narrow enough to hold back his son.

After the accident, Shpigler measured the head of another child who was on the balcony that day — his daughter, who is nearly 5 years old. Her head is exactly 5 inches wide, Shpigler said. That helped convince him that his younger son could fit between the slats.

Eric Tash, manager of the state Department of Health's Injury Prevention Program, said parents need to be more aware of the dangers of balconies.

The most important thing is to make sure they are never alone on the balcony, Tash said. Parents also should remove furniture that would allow a child to climb over a railing, he said.

And Tash said to lock the door if possible.

"Kids are very inquisitive and they move quickly," Tash said. "We recommend that they be supervised. But sometimes it is not always possible to do that so you want to make the area as child-safe as possible."