Posted on 07/24/2006 6:12:21 AM PDT by Samwise
INDIANAPOLIS -- A 3-year-old boy was fatally injured when a floor-mounted mirror fell on him at an Indianapolis Wal-Mart.
Police said Christopher Antonio was apparently playing near the 5-foot-tall mirror in the children's section of the store Saturday evening when it fell at the store in the 3200 block of 86th Street.
The boy was with his 5-year-old sister and his mother. The mother told police she was about 5 feet away from her son when she heard a loud crash.
Police said it took two people to pull the mirror off the boy.
Wow! This scared me! I was reading this thread when I heard a loud crash from the kitchen. Turned around and found out a faulty large middle drawer had fallen onto my six year old. He hadn't touched it. Thankfully, he only has a scrape on his leg.
I can't believe the nonsense being suggested on this thread. A three year old can't be out of arm's reach in a department store? That it's not unreasonable to expect that a huge glass object might fall on a three year old?
Walmart is a great company and accidents happen. But Walmart will rightly have to pay, probably dearly, for this accident.
She was not watching her child. The child was THREE! He should have been right next to her, even hand-holding. It is not up to society to babysit.
Seriously, thank the Lord that your child is OK.
You're right doc. Too many parents think Wal-Mart is a playground! Wal-Mart should post a disclaimer after this one.
Was his hand too fat to hold?
None of the really really good parents here will ever lose a child to an accident. Yessirree, this could never happen to them. If all parents were just careful there wouldn't be any accidents. If the crushed child had been 11 yrs old, there would still be people here who critiqued the mother for not having him in a cart or holding his hand.
(sarc meter pegged at high)
I'll agree that many parents let their kids run wild in Walmart, and it's annoying.
However, with all the hovering, overprotective parenting that's being suggested here, I think I'll switch careers in about 10 years and become a therapist - bound to make a fortune!
Good Lord, people! There is a middle ground.
You said: Nothing, nothing, nothing in the article suggests the mother approached the store as a "playground." That is your invention.
I replied: She didn't have the child in a cart. He wandered at least 5 feet away. What was he doing, reading "War and Peace"?
If he wasn't playing, he must have been doing something constructive at the age of 3, right?
That is correct. However, that scenario has nothing to do with this case.
It has EVERYTHING to do with this case. What control did she have of WalMart?!
It is easy for a normal sized person to reach for something 5 feet away. Most people don't have to take a step. Some will have to take one step.
No ones arms are 5 ft long.
I am using facts and reason.
No you aren't.
If the mirror were secured.
Do you know for a fact, since you claim you're using them, that the mirror wasn't secured?
My kids were always under my control no matter their age. This Mom, tragically, did not have her kids under her control.
From my post 73: I'm assuming that most parents are smart enough to control their kids. When mine got too big for the carts, they were either in the basket or holding the pocket of my jeans. The MINUTE they let go I knew it and they were back by my side where they belonged. As they got older, when Hubby was along, he'd say, "where do your hands belong?". My boys put their hands in their pockets and stayed beside us.
I'm pinging one of my 3 Freeper kids to verify.
Kidnappings have occurred at Wal-Mart, muggings have occurred at Wal-Mart. It is not OK to leave a child unattended just because this is the USA.
A three-year-old needs to be watched at Wal-Mart or any other public place - for many reasons!
Your six yr old should have been holding your hand or in a cart. Certainly never out of your reach.
sarc meter off.
Seriously they sell devices to stop drawers from sliding all the way out. Maybe your cabinets could be retrofitted. Sadly almost every safety device on the narket is the result of someone elses' bad experience (or as the freeper righteous parenting squad would call it, bad parenting).
The mirrors I can think of in an average Wal Mart...
1 Dressing rooms
2 Furniture Department
3 Cosmetics and hair care items areas
4 Clothing sections, mounted on clothing display racks so shoppers can look at the mirror while holding items in front of them.
I am to assume then that at Church or the park you never let your kid get more than 5 ft away?
Apparently not.
Hello, I hope they will settle and settle well. There is nothing that a three year old should be able to do to dislodge a mirror of that size. WalMart is definitely at fault. You are assuming that the child did something. Not necessarily. My sympathies go to the parents of the child. Great negligence on the part of Wal-Mart.
There are reasonable limits to what any establishment can do to prevent injury. Wal Mart is a store, not a plyaground. And like I said before, it depends on what caused the mirror to fall. If it was loose and tradgically came down on the child without any action of the child causing it to fall, the Wal Mart is in deep trouble. But Wal Mart should not be expected to make everything in the store secure or safe for children to play with. If the child sadly precipitated the falling of the mirror through play, the parents bear some responsibility for not controlling their child's actions. A store is not a playground and that needs to be taught to parents and children.
I hate to inform you, but Starbucks would not exist if not for lefties swilling $4 cups of that coffee.
Too many parents let their kids run wild in places like Walmart. They think it's okay to let a 6 year old supervise a 2 year old. The kids chase one another and endanger themselves and other customers.
I don't know what happend in this particular case but I do know I'd put a 3 year old in the basket. He wouldn't be 5' away from me.
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