Claim filed in playground mishap

STAMFORD -- A 2-year-old model and actor from Old Greenwich is seeking lost wages and other compensation from the city of Stamford after cutting his head at a public playground. According to the claim his mother filed last week with the city, Konrad Mader of Havemeyer Lane in Greenwich was running toward a treehouse at Twin Meadows playground behind Stillmeadow Elementary School on Nov. 4 when he crashed into a railing. The blond-haired toddler received a few stitches from a plastic surgeon to close the wound. "I am writing to the city of Stamford as I believe a design flaw or oversight at this new playground caused this accident," his mother, Deena Mader, wrote in her complaint. "More children will be hurt at this playground as a result." In her claim, Mader does not specify the amount she is seeking from the city on her son's behalf, only saying she wants compensation for his medical bills, pain and suffering and a "lost wage amount due to his inability to audition or take modeling or commercial jobs while his head heals." Mader, who said she was supervising the child at the time of the accident, said the railing support beam Konrad collided with is green and blends in with the landscaping. She said the railings should be painted a brighter color to make them easier to see. The boy's mother added that rounded support beams would be safer than the square kind at the playground because they would not have sharp edges that can break the skin. She questions how safe the playground's elevated bridges and walkways are, and if they present a danger to children who could fall off them and into the "rock river" below. She also worried about children tripping on the metal, chain-link roping that divides the play areas. "Konrad was using this equipment and space as it was intended and was hurt," Mader wrote. "He was properly supervised. This accident was preventable had the railings and safety measures been correct at this park." Twin Meadows, designed to be the first playground in the city where disabled children can play safely, opened in October amid fanfare. Local builder Frank Mercede and his wife Lori, who have a 6-year-old twin daughters -- one of whom has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair -- raised $750,000 in donations and state grants to build the 25,000-square-foot play area behind Stillmeadow Elementary School. The playground was named for the Mercede twins, Nicola and Jaclyn. Reached at his office Monday, Mercede said he was not aware a parent had concerns about the playground's design. Tom Cassone, the city's director of legal affairs, said he received Mader's claim Monday afternoon and that his office is investigating.

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By Donna Porstner - Staff Writer

December 26, 2003

STAMFORD -- A 2-year-old model and actor from Old Greenwich is seeking lost wages and other compensation from the city of Stamford after cutting his head at a public playground.

According to the claim his mother filed last week with the city, Konrad Mader of Havemeyer Lane in Greenwich was running toward a treehouse at Twin Meadows playground behind Stillmeadow Elementary School on Nov. 4 when he crashed into a railing.

The blond-haired toddler received a few stitches from a plastic surgeon to close the wound.

"I am writing to the city of Stamford as I believe a design flaw or oversight at this new playground caused this accident," his mother, Deena Mader, wrote in her complaint. "More children will be hurt at this playground as a result."

In her claim, Mader does not specify the amount she is seeking from the city on her son's behalf, only saying she wants compensation for his medical bills, pain and suffering and a "lost wage amount due to his inability to audition or take modeling or commercial jobs while his head heals."

Mader, who said she was supervising the child at the time of the accident, said the railing support beam Konrad collided with is green and blends in with the landscaping. She said the railings should be painted a brighter color to make them easier to see.

The boy's mother added that rounded support beams would be safer than the square kind at the playground because they would not have sharp edges that can break the skin.

She questions how safe the playground's elevated bridges and walkways are, and if they present a danger to children who could fall off them and into the "rock river" below. She also worried about children tripping on the metal, chain-link roping that divides the play areas.

"Konrad was using this equipment and space as it was intended and was hurt," Mader wrote. "He was properly supervised. This accident was preventable had the railings and safety measures been correct at this park."

Twin Meadows, designed to be the first playground in the city where disabled children can play safely, opened in October amid fanfare.

Local builder Frank Mercede and his wife Lori, who have a 6-year-old twin daughters -- one of whom has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair -- raised $750,000 in donations and state grants to build the 25,000-square-foot play area behind Stillmeadow Elementary School. The playground was named for the Mercede twins, Nicola and Jaclyn.

Reached at his office Monday, Mercede said he was not aware a parent had concerns about the playground's design.

Tom Cassone, the city's director of legal affairs, said he received Mader's claim Monday afternoon and that his office is investigating.

Copyright © 2003, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.

When I grew up, we had guns, didn't have bike helmuts, blew up fire crackers every chance we got, swam in fast moving waters, jumped off cliffs into the lake and diving boards in every pool we every got a chance to swim in, played in fields of high grass where rattlers weren't uncommon, bicycled on the edges of 65mph roads, mowed lawns with gasoline powered lawn mowers without any safety guards, and threw rocks at each other.

We were smart enough to either not bump our heads (except off course when we played football and that was expected) like that or make darned sure nobody knew it if we had. When we did get hurt, unless it needed a good number of stitches because it wouldn't stop bleeding, we generally let it heal on its own and perpetually had scabs on our knees and elbows. I don't remember not having scabs on my arms or legs until maybe high school.

If the kid was younger than to be on his own, then maybe the parent is at fault for placing the kid in a dangerous environment and not checking it out first.

What's really amazing is that recent codes in construction over the past 30 years makes it virtually impossible to even build anything where children go without extreme safety factors to be installed throughout the construction.

What's really stupid are the kids on skateboards flying 20 feet in the air and bouncing off steel and concrete structures.

Let 'em go climb the trees and put a tree swing in about 30-50 feet high and leave 'em alone in a contained area. They'll learn on their own. Then smack anybody including other kids and social workers who interfere with them simply playin' around.

IMHO, Tell the shyster mother to take a leap, get a job to support her kid, and stop depending on the kid to support her. If she was hooked into a sweet deal, then she should have been saavy enough to have had workman's insurance on her kid to protect the lucrative potential.

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