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Near Tragedy In Lodi, N.J., As Falling Pole Crushes 6-Year-Old

LODI, N..J. (CBSNewYork) -- A Bergen County 6-year-old was seriously injured Thursday night in a freak accident.

It appears a heavy, metal pole fell and crushed the boy, CBS 2's Derricke Dennis reported.

Neighbors on Walnut Street said a rusted metal pole came crashing down on the 6-year-old boy, hitting him in the head and leaving him bleeding and unconscious on the grass.

His family and other neighbors were hysterical.

"Yeah, it's like an accident. The pipe was all rotted out. They were pulling on it and it just came down," neighbor Frank Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said the boy and another friend were trying to hang a scooter and a bicycle from a clothesline attached to the pole when the weight of it sent the pole falling.

"They were hanging up their scooters and bikes on … I guess a clothesline or whatever they had going to it. They were pulling on the scooters and the rope and the pole came down on one of the kids."

"I hope he's alright. That's all I'm thinking and praying," one woman said. "That everything is fine you know?"

The boy's condition was not immediately known, but neighbors said he didn't look good when he was rushed from the scene by ambulance.

The clothesline and the pole remained behind, right where it all happened.

"Of course I feel bad because that little kid has been inside my house, too," the woman said.

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