Child Killed By Falling Mirror At Wal-Mart

The Indy Channel ^ | 7-23-2006

[Gabz]

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.

You are assuming negligence on the part of Wal-Mart. Not necessarily. It is possible it was just a freak accident and NO ONE is at fault.

There is not enough information to lay blame or negligence on any party involved, be it the parent, the child or WalMart.

NOT ENOUGH INFORMATION.

[M0sby]

" Yes, it is a tragic accident. However there is no way of knowing it "could" have been prevented. The mirror could very well have fallen on someone else, possibly the child's mother if there location had been reversed.

There is not enough information provided to determine who, if anyone is at fault here."

Absolutely you are right..
If the mirror was secured but the child was playing ON IT..then that is one scenario..
If the child was just standing there and the mirror randomly FELL on the child..then that is another.

You are right, there IS NOT enough information here to make any judgment as to fault.

There IS enough information to feel some compassion for the family with a dead kid!

Just wanted to bump up your comment...

[DJ MacWoW]

Most of us call that "tagging along with mom while she shops at WalMart."

At 3?!

Nope. You said: "It is NOT safe to let a child wander off in an environment that you have no control over."

The child did not "wonder off." He was FIVE FEET AWAY. That's why your make believe scenario has nothing to do with this case.

I call 5 ft wandering off. If the child had been by Mom, that 5 ft would have saved his life. Mom has NO control of WalMart and it's environs. She only has control over her children. I take it you're a younger parent. I'm 56 and remember being under control in a store. I raised my kids the same way.

If a 3 year old can pull it over, then, no, it wasn't secured.

If he could pull it over, Mom wasn't watching him, was she.

Baseless assumption.

Is it?

[Westlander]

After 35 years in imaging in a Level 1 Pediatric hospital, and moonlighting work for the county coroner, you have not a clue. We just direct those grieving parents to 'that room down the hall.'

[dalereed]

"next thing all places of business will have to do is put disclaimers on their mirrors."

This mirror doesn't break when you look in it and scsre it, it flattens you!

[RandallFlagg]

When I go to WalMart, my three-year-old is in the seat of the cart, and my five-year-old is in the basket.

My Wife gets the stuff we came for in the second cart.

WalMart's just too crazy to hope that someone won't plow a cart into my Sons from around a corner. Let all the other kids run rampant, I'll keep mine safe in their little buggy with me.

[Gabz]

The Mom was at least 5 feet away according to the article. If she'd had the 3 yr old beside her.........

And if you paid attention to my comment, that you quoted, had the positions been reversed the mirror could just as well fallen on mom. Or if they were all together, on all of them.

As I said - there is not enough information to point fingers of blame at anyone here.

[justt bloomin]

I'm speaking on behalf of all the mirrors out there. My father was a mirror, and it's unfair of you to automatically pin the blame on mirrors. This is reflective profiling.

Being 5 feet away from your kid is nothing, and the employee who set up that mirror should be fired. Big Bad Wal-Mart will be paying up.

[N3WBI3]

After 35 years in imaging in a Level 1 Pediatric hospital, and moonlighting work for the county coroner, you have not a clue.

As someone who has had family lose a baby to a freak accident I can tell you that you have no clue. In addition to my own kids I have over a dozen nieces and nephews and have seen them will their way through most any preventative measure thrown at them if they wanted something badly enough.

Maybe all that work has seriously jaded any compassion you might have had, and thats truely a terrible thing.

[M0sby]

"When I go to Home Depot, I try and leave the kids at home. If I must go, I keep them glued to my side. Too much stuff that could fall and the forklifts. However, going to Walmart, I am not as protective. I don't let them out of my sight. I just don't walk through the door thinking that something could kill them inside the store."

ME TOO!!!
(and I get looks all the time for being a "mean parent")
My kids are allowed to "go look at stuff" as long as they are BEING GOOD..and I can still see and hear them.

[DJ MacWoW]

I'm just a bit unnerved at the posts that suggest that the mother deserved for her child to die because "society needs to be taught a lesson". It's almost as if there is some glee at "payback" for having to put up with wild kids at walmart.

I don't see that. Freepers would never enjoy or be gleeful at the death of a child.

And we just don't know enough to make ANY pronouncements about ANYBODYs negligence - including the mother.

The mother did not have her kids by her side. The article claims 5 ft away. Obviously that wasn't close enough and it's an object lesson to NOT trust an environment is safe.

[Warren_Piece]

After 35 years in imaging in a Level 1 Pediatric hospital, and moonlighting work for the county coroner, you have not a clue. We just direct those grieving parents to 'that room down the hall.'

Imaging is actually pretty neat, and sometimes I wish i had gone into that instead of IT.

That being said, what exactly are you trying to say here? I'm not trying to be smart, I've just lost track of who's arguing what.

[Darkchylde]

Most of us call that "tagging along with mom while she shops at WalMart."

At 3?! No. Maybe as a teen, but not as a toddler. I don't know of any 3 year old who says "Sure mom, I'll just tag along.".

Nope. You said: "It is NOT safe to let a child wander off in an environment that you have no control over."
The child did not "wonder off." He was FIVE FEET AWAY. That's why your make believe scenario has nothing to do with this case.

I NEVER wandered more than a foot from my mother. Unless you have arms like a gorilla, five feet away is a bit far to be reaching for a kid. I happen to be five feet tall, I could never reach five feet away unless I laid myself out on the floor.

If a 3 year old can pull it over, then, no, it wasn't secured.

Why sit around & find that out the hard way? If the kid was being watched, he wouldn't have had the chance to try it out.

Baseless assumption.

Not really. If she had her eyes on the kid, she would've seen what he was doing. If she had seen what he was doing, she could've stopped him. If she could've stopped him, we wouldn't be discussing this now.

[M0sby]

"s someone who has had family lose a baby to a freak accident "
I am sorry for the loss of the baby.
It is unimaginable to me.
My niece died during labor 2 summers ago...it was no one's fault.
It is a very helpless feeling isn't it.
I am sorry for your family.

[N3WBI3]

It happened years ago, and we saw God work through it in the hearts of our then unsaved in-laws. It happened as the family was preparing for a wedding of my Brothers' brother-in-law.

I was not very close to the child, my bother moved before having him so I did not have day-to-day contact but I still get torn up when I think about it. I feel more for my brother whom I love than the baby I did not know but it was the biggest example I have ever had of "sometimes bad things happen and its nobodies fault".

[justt bloomin]

At my Wal-Mart in Winston-Salem, NC, I can walk in at 2:00 AM and see several sets of parents (95% of the time, young black parents) or single mothers hauling around their young child. Most of them carry the child, some place it in the cart, and almost never do they let them walk around.

If they don't have room in their schedule to drag their kid grocery shopping at any time other than 2:00 AM, maybe their kid being up at all hours of the night isn't their biggest problem right now.

[DJ MacWoW]

False Dichotomy: You are stating either he was reading war and piece or he was running around playing... Maybe, just maybe he was looking at a toy near the Mirror, maybe taking it off the shelf but not in a manner that is 'playing'.

There are no mirrors in the toy dept.

From the article: Police said Christopher Antonio was apparently playing near the 5-foot-tall mirror in the children's section of the store

Freak accidents happen

She wasn't looking at him.

From the article: The mother told police she was about 5 feet away from her son when she heard a loud crash.

Tragically, she wasn't looking. All it takes is one split second for a tragedy.

[Gabz]

Not really. If she had her eyes on the kid, she would've seen what he was doing. If she had seen what he was doing, she could've stopped him. If she could've stopped him, we wouldn't be discussing this now.

You don't know that. there is a 3rd scenario possible that everyone laying blame on either the mother or WalMart fail to grasp........it could have just been a freak accident that is NO ONE'S FAULT.

[DJ MacWoW]

Your right, the mother is worse than Andrea Yates and should be drawn and quartered. 5 feet away is a whole 58 inches and that's too damn much to let a tike out of reach. Do you wrap your kids in bubble tape every time you leave the house? Ah..another contrarian Freeper wanting to argue the world's flat. Your assertion is idiotic, I'd drop it.

My assertion is correct and your sarcasm is useless. I grewup in a time when people actually controlled their children in a store. They said "Please" and "Thank you" and stayed by their parents and behaved.

[N3WBI3]

Tragically, she wasn't looking. All it takes is one split second for a tragedy.

First thing you have said I agree with, now if we can get you to admit that every parent has had that second happen without the tragedy well have progress. No parent can look back, honestly, at the ages between 2 and 5 and say they never for a second took their eyes off the kid!

None of this address the fact the Mirror *MIGHT* have been improperly set up! And even if the mother took her eyes off the kid it would not excuse negligence. As I have said several times it could be mostly the mothers fault, it could be mostly Walmarts fault, or it could just be a freak accident..