Jun 28, 2008 5:44 pm US/Central
Toddler Crushed By Gate
Death Ruled Accidental
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Curtis Cooper, 3, was killed Friday when a heavy iron gate collapsed and fell on him as he was riding his tricycle.
CBS
Playing outside with friends turned deadly for a toddler on his tricycle Friday night. Investigators and family members are trying to figure out why.
Three-year-old Curtis Cooper was riding his tricycle at around 5:30 p.m. Friday along Cambridge Avenue in Cabrini Green, when an iron fence collapsed and fell on top of him.
"I won't get a chance to see my baby go to school," said the child's mother Pamela Cooper. "I won't get a chance to see my baby grow up because they're careless."
"I heard everybody hollering so I came out the house and I saw his head smashed in with the gate. And blood gushing out of his mouth and nose," said Cooper's father Clayton Wade.
Curtis' aunt Lisa Springfield said, "It just crushed him all up, his whole face."
According to witnesses, five or six men rushed to the boy to try to pry the heavy fence off of him. An hour later he was pronounced dead at Children's Memorial Hospital. Curtis' mother was apparently watching her son from a nearby balcony.
Curtis' grandmother Velma Wade said, "Next thing I know, she was screaming … and so when I went and came around and looked, the gate was falling on him. It fell on him and smashed his little head in."
As for Regional Property Advisers, the firm which has been inspecting this CHA property for the past two years, it contended that due diligence was exercised.
Spokesman Ronald O'Neil said, "We visually check the property on a regular basis and I can tell you that in this particular instance, there's a gate that has a chain on it and it has been chained up and it did not fall over."
The company in charge of managing this complex calls it an unfortunate incident.
That's of small comfort for Curtis' family. They expressed skepticism over that explanation.
"They didn't do anything to that one. I guess they thought because it wouldn't move. The gate wouldn't move, so I guess it was rusting out, that's why it wouldn't move. Then all of a sudden, he touched it and the whole dang gate fell on him," Springfield said.
Cooper's family disputes accounts he was hanging on the gate. They say the boy weighed about 35 pounds.
"He just gets next to the gate and the gate just fell. I mean, how can a kid get on the gate and the gate just fall?" Wade said.
As for the Chicago Housing Authority, it released a statement which reads:
"The Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Housing Authority are conducting an investigation to determine what occurred. The Chicago Housing Authority is deeply apologetic towards the family for the accident that occurred."
An autopsy by the Cook County Medical Examiner Office determined Cooper died from cranio-cerebral injuries. His death was ruled accidental.
Loved ones grouped stuffed animals near the scene of the incident – symbols of their pain. They say they've been told the CHA will talk to them soon.
"My baby's gone. What could they tell me? They can't bring him back, so what could they tell me?" Cooper said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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