Boy Gets Stuck In Roll-Down Gate In Brooklyn, Ends Up Hanging In Air
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A boy was hospitalized Thursday evening, after getting stuck in a roll-down gate in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
At 6:12 p.m., firefighters responded to a 911 call of a child stuck in a roll-down gate at 50 Skillman St. The boy was about 6 or 7 years old, neighbors told CBS 2.
The boy was holding onto the roll-down gate as it rolled up, and he was carried several feet into the air, officials said.
As CBS 2's Dave Carlin reported, a crowd surrounded the boy, whose head and one arm was wrapped in the metal section of the roll up parking gate.
Firefighters climbed atop a vehicle directly under the gate to get as close to the boy as possible. Using various tools to stretch the metal and free the boy, they found one thing in particular did the trick as they used airbags.
As CBS 2's Dave Carlin reported, a crowd surrounded the boy, whose head and one arm was wrapped in the metal section of the roll up parking gate.
Firefighters climbed atop a vehicle directly under the gate to get as close to the boy as possible. Using various tools to stretch the metal and free the boy, they found one thing in particular did the trick as they used airbags.
"The airbags inflate, and it allows the metal to expand, which released his head," said FDNY Lt. Gordon Ambelas.
Investigators said one possibility is that the boy may have been playing a dangerous game of trying to ride the gate as it rolled up.
"He was crying," a man who witnessed the incident said.
Neighbors who heard screams, and then sirens, estimated it took 15 minutes to free the boy.
"His and his hands were inside," said a woman at the scene. "I saw his mouth was moving – his lips – and I saw his feet were moving, so I think he was conscious."
"I saw him. I saw emergency personnel talking to him," the man who witnessed the incident said. "He was looking fine when they took him out."
The boy did not suffer any noticeable injuries to his head, but he may have suffered a fractured arm Witnesses said he was extremely lucky that he survived.
"We basically just freed him with the airbags, and the kid was OK after that," Ambelas said.
The child was taken by a volunteer ambulance to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries.
As of 11 p.m., the power to the gate was turned off. The boy was expected to make a full recovery.
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