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.
Lots of kids play near lots of things. That doesn't mean that they are "out of control."
Nothing in the article suggests that the child was "out of control."
The child was only five feet away, for crying out loud. The child was in no way out of control.
Yes she did, read further up the thread.
For some, the subject is as stated above. For others, the subject is faulty workmanship- be it a mirror or a tunnel panel. I suppose it depends on your point of view.
For me, I feel a tremendous amount of sorrow for this family's loss and wish it had never happened. Is Walmart is to blame for having a mirror that was either installed poorly or is so poorly constructed that a 3 year old could knock it down, or is the parent to blame for not keeping a tighter reign on the child and for not anticipating the worse case scenario when out shopping?
This article is inconclusive and perhaps purposely so. I expect any video of the incident and inspection of the mirror hardware will provide better evidence as to what actually happened.
Add to that list:
Knife attacks by estranged spouses that was stopped by a gun carrying customer.
Suicide (in my local WalMart). A customer walked up to a greeter, said hi, pulled a gun and shot himself. He didn't even know her.
For those who think that 5 five is close enough to reach, I guess they've never seen a 3 year old take off running when you call them. That 5 feet can quickly be ten feet and out of sight.
I have no idea how the floor mirror fell, do you? If Mom had the child by her, 5 feet away from it..............
Btw, do you think those mirrors would have perfect balance if the kid was hanging on it? Physics says that it's easier to knock over than pickup.
And the tunnel was still designed to be driven through but the mirror was not meant to be in a play area.
And how many times were we told that. :)
You seem to be of the opinion that smothering and hovering is the ONLY way to accomplish this. I would disagree. This is why I used the agriculture analogy - all kids are different. We didn't/don't have to hover with our son because he's a nervous nilly who doesn't WANT to leave our sight. He's also very well behaved because he's borderline OCD (which is a good and a bad thing).
Our daughter responds very well to the "earning freedom" approach. She knows that when she behaves and stays in site, we won't smother/hover. And this little girl REALLY values her freedom.
When they were younger, spanking worked better.
Whoops, just opened a new can of worms... :)
How do you know that mother wasn't watching him? How do you know that "playing near the mirror" had anything to do with the mirror falling on him? That is what at question re: your posts.
We've gotten some funny looks and even a few comments from teen agers about the harness. But most parents ask us where they can get one.
I have no idea if it was wallyworld's fault or not. The article stated 5 feet away. That's too far for a 3 year old. In any public place one encounters the trash of society, and the adult in charge should have been more attentive. As far as my work, it should not surprise you what kids get into. General Diagnostic, CT, and MRI. You will find the vast majority of parents/guardians always blaming the store/business/playground/street for the ineptitude of the adult in charge. And they do go bonkers...ie.. smashing their head on floors/walls, jumping out of windows....Usually 2 security guards are present when working on traumatized kids. Not to say the home is safe by any means. That's where my coroner work comes into play. Corpses are X-Rayed for old fractures and new ones. And contrary to me being accused of being 'jaded', I'm not. Remember when a Dad and his 10 year old (or so) were running a chipper? Dad just pivoted to get some more branches--and the kid was gone. The county brought the whole truck to the coroners office in on a flatbed trailer. The family received received a small baggie of tissue. Your not allowed to have a pet 5 feet away from you (unrestrained). The mom could have at minimum held on to the kids hand.
Having worked in the commercial interiors industry for over 25 years I must agree that the store is responsible for providing a well designed safe environment for their clientele. However, having family members who have worked for Walmart, I must also acknowledge there is a high incidence of customers who literally let their children run wild through the store unsupervised.
It is a sad occurence, there is probably blame to be shared on all sides.
From the article: The mother told police she was about 5 feet away from her son when she heard a loud crash.
She heard not saw.
Where does it say that the child was pulling or even touching the mirror?
Mom, who SHOULD have seen, only HEARD. No one knows what the child was doing, do they. The article DOES say: was apparently playing near the 5-foot-tall mirror
Post number, please?
OMG, you are being utterly ridiculous.
The posts on this thread remind me of a scene in the movie "Airplane". It was a TV commentary from a "conservative" who said - These people knew what they were getting into when they bought their tickets. [looking directly into the camera] I say let'em die.
We'll never know until an engineer looks at the failure and we get some information from witnesses as to what was actually going on. Basically, a court would need to look at it. But Wal Mart will more than likely hand some $$ to the parentws to make the case go away.
I must have missed it -- unless it was that post that was pulled.
Where did anyone suggest that she deserved to have her child die? Which post # was it?
With what little is known about what actually happened, and going only off of what is written in the article, without bias to one side or the other, the word "near" should also be underlined.
You were there and an eye-witness?
I feel bad for you. A mother loses her child in a freak accident and all you can do is think poorly of her. Now I see a few posts up that you were a Sunday School teacher? Did'nt any of your lessons speak of compassion, about being judgemental? And all these pathetic comments about 5 feet. Take a moment and think what 5 feet is,I have a rug thats 5 x 8 that is a tiny area and you want to act like its not. Shame ,shame.
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