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Boy Dies After Soccer Goal Falls On Him
POSTED: 9:41 am MST September 12,
2008
UPDATED: 2:57 pm MST September 12,
2008
YUMA, Ariz. -- A fourth-grader at a San Luis elementary school is dead after a soccer goal fell on him and another student early Thursday, San Luis police said.An ambulance rushed both students to the hospital, where the boy succumbed to his head injury, police said.The second boy was treated for a non-life threatening head injury and is in stable condition, police said.San Luis Fire Department personnel who responded to the accident scene said they also treated a teacher for what Fire Chief Hank Green described as shock. The teacher had stabilized one of the boys until firefighters arrived."This teacher did the right thing by making sure the child wasn't moved and by keeping his airway open," said Green.The children were playing on the playground at Rio Colorado Elementary School when the goal fell.Police said they received the first 911 call around 7:30 Thursday morning. The call came from the school nurse. A few moments later, 911 received another call."This was a tragic incident, our prayers and thoughts are with the children's families," San Luis police Capt. Javier Nuño told the Yuma Sun. He did not say how the goal toppled.Rosy Ballesteros, a spokeswoman for the Gadsden Elementary School District, said the matter is currently under investigation."Our hearts go out to the families involved," she said.The names of the 10-year-old boys were not released.Soccer goals have been identified as a hazard and numerous deaths have been reported when they topple over.In May, Gabriel Mendoza, 8, died of injuries suffered when a goal post fell on top of him at the South Mountain YMCA in Phoenix.Investigators said Mendoza was playing goalie and grabbed the overhead bar to swing from it when it came crashing down. The impact killed him.The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has said for years that soccer goals should be anchored to the ground. Officials there said goals tipping over have killed more than two-dozen people in the last 30 years.In March, 1999, the CPSC and the soccer goal industry helped develop a new safety standard that will reduce the risk of soccer goal tip-over.The "Provisional Safety Standard and Performance Specification for Soccer Goals" requires that movable soccer goals, except very light-weight goals, not tip over when the goal is weighted in a downward or horizontal direction.The standard also specifies warning labels that must be attached to the goal, such as: "Warning: Always anchor goal. Unsecured goal can fall over causing serious injury or death."CPSC said most of the deaths and injuries occur with unanchored homemade goals including those assembled by high school shop classes and community businesses. The commission said people are killed when they climbed on the soccer goal or while attempting to do chin-ups, pulling the goal down.In a May 1999 news release, the commission urged that all goals, whether homemade or manufactured, should be properly secured to the ground to avoid injuries or deaths associated with tip-over.It is unclear whether the goal post that killed the San Luis boy and injured the other was secured to the ground.
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