Posted on 07/13/2006 4:47:16 PM PDT by Rte66
A 3-year-old child died from injuries she suffered after a TV fell on her at 134 Woolworth Wednesday at about 4:30 p.m., according to HPD.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
" ... Family members told Houston Police Department Homicide Sergeant R. Oliva and Officer B. Nabors that Lizzete Pena was in the living room with her mother, great-grandmother and other relatives watching television at the time of accident. Lizzete threw a small toy that landed on top of the television. When she stepped on a shelf of the TV stand to retrieve it, the stand tipped over and the television landed atop her, HP said.
Family members lifted the TV off of Lizzete who was unconscious and unresponsive. HFD paramedics arrived and transported the child to Memorial Hermann Hospital where she later died from head trauma. ..."
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>>>I'm posting this to warn all FReeper parents, and especially grandparents without childproofed homes, about what has happened here in Houston.
Two children, ages 2 and 3, have been killed here in Houston just in the past 5-6 days from having the family TV topple over on them.
This little girl died today when she pulled a TV down off of a too-small tv stand on which it was perched. She had climbed the cabinet. The little 2-yo boy earlier in the week pulled his family's TV down from where it sat on top of two speakers. TV news said they were big-screen TV's, but one was 45" and I'm not sure the size of the other one.
What is so unusual about this is that "only" 6 deaths per year are attributed to this kind of accident in the whole US - here, we've had two in a week. So, please be careful if you have small children in the home - there are ways to secure the TVs to the wall, so this can't happen.
Another frightening statistic is that 17,000 injuries or hospital visits per year are attributed to this same type of accident. To have "only" 6 deaths per year out of that is pretty remarkable - but having 2 in one week here means something else is going on that needs to be controlled.
Time to ban high capacity (inch) TVs.....for the children.
My grandson did this. They were staying with us and had a tv on top of a chest. He was changing the channel. Fortunately when it fell the chest went with it at an angle and missed him. It really scared us though.
Omigosh. I'm glad it missed - but it used to be that chests of drawers themselves were the things that most often hurt children seriously, I think.
Kids take the drawers out and play in them, or climb the empty compartments like ladders.
In the case today, the grandmother was sitting right there, but the toddler did it so fast she couldn't get to her in time. Takes quick reflexes to keep up with babies that age.
Remember the old floormodel TVs? Wish I could find one......much safer.
Its Bush's Fault.
You are in favor of television positioning regulation then.
For sure, more laws can fix this.. yep.
Kill Your Television!
Before it kills YOU!
"Bet it was tuned to NPR."
Umm, NPR stands for National Public RADIO
You think dead kids are a matter for jokes?
This has been a problem for a few years now. You have a morbid sense of humor.
As long as there are negligent adults, there will be dead children.
Try PBS or Telemundo
Why do you say that?
Yeah, consoles. They were safer. I don't think even the nice armoires nowadays are that safe, if the TV is loose within it.
I was thinking more like people not letting grandparents baby-sit for littles without making sure some of the most dangerous things in the home are secured.
Of course, that's *assuming* a lot, in that I think parents have already done that in their own homes where the kids live.
They're only negligent because there aren't enough laws.
I agree. But in my first post, Post 5, I said: " Remember the old floormodel TVs? Wish I could find one......much safer".
And they were. Riverman94610 seems to think this is a matter for joking. It's not. And sink, I don't see you laughing either.
Btw, I'd love to find a floor model TV. I hate those big bookcase things for what us old folk used to call "portable TVs". (course, they WERE smaller then)
Man that's a shame. Poor little thing, prayers for that poor family.
I had to strap down our set because the floor in this old house is slightly unlevel and bouncy in that spot. Every time the dogs ran by, it tried to shake until I got it fastened. I was afraid it would land on them.
We hooked our bookcase to the wall with an eye hook so grandbabies can't pull the whole thing over. But that doesn't solve the problem of the TV being loose. I LOVED console TVs!
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