A real-life toy story: Nebraska toddler found inside bowling alley claw machine

Boston.com ^ | 4-16-14 | Jack Pickell

[afraidfortherepublic]

[Alex Murphy]

...in a bowling alley across the street from that apartment, patrons were marveling at the sight of a little boy—surrounded by stuffed animals—sitting inside an arcade-style claw machine....how’d he get into the machine in the first place? Nobody’s certain, but according to a BuzzFeed report, one bowling alley employee speculated the child might have climbed in through the machine’s prize door.

I can't see how the kid could have climbed in via the prize door. I wonder if anyone played the machine, trying to win him for a dollar?

[proxy_user]

I would not give him a free stuffed animal. That will only encourage him to do it again.

[chrisser]

Isn’t it way past time for sensible claw machine legislation?

[Ingtar]

I am more interested in how he escaped mom’s notice long enough to get across the street.

[Sybeck1]

ooo, the claw......

[Jack Hydrazine]

Just watch these examples.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MxcUlJZlp8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cGwumNaccM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa0ROnznKLs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIhJIZf1dtg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIhJIZf1dtg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ-lbNFL_5Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1ym9c3cuKs

[wideawake]

What a great mom. Very lucky kid.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Those are really ugly animals in those machines!

[Charles Henrickson]

His name is Claude.

[whinecountry]

LOL, post of the day!

[Charles Henrickson]

[RJS1950]

He was in the apartment and his mom went to the bathroom. She called the police so quickly that while they were responding in the neighborhood the bowling alley employee had already called in the kid in the machine.

She was no more negligent than any other mother with small children. Kids that age are smart, fast, and can disappear in an instant.

When I was 4 in 1955 my mother was paying for something at a store counter and I was at her side. Before she was done (less than a minute) I had seen a woman outside the open door that looked like my grandmother and I went running to see her. By the time I caught up to her down the street and discovered she was not grandma, my frantic mother was out searching for me but by that time a passing beat cop had picked me up, determined I was lost and took me up to the police station in a nearby building and gave me an ice cream. I guess I cried pretty loudly because I saw the jail cells with bars in the open area I was in and was afraid they would put me in one. My mom found me quickly and I learned the lesson that when you walk outside your sphere of security bad things can happen.

[dfwgator]

"The Claw!"

[Ingtar]

This is why you toddler “proof” the doors.

[Alex Murphy]

Just watch these examples.

[luckystarmom]

When my twins were that age, they slipped out of the house while my husband was watching them. He thought they were safe, so he went to take a shower.

They climbed over a safety gate, then moved a chair over to the door and climbed up and removed the chain and another latch. That was high on the door, and ran down the street.

I drove up and saw them with the neighbor.

Kids that age can be quick!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

This isn’t the first time a kid has done this, it is fairly common.

[Delta Dawn]

This kid has trouble written all over him. :)

[Delta Dawn]

I’m just glad that you did not yell at your husband...