New Jersey boy dies when folding bench at school gym collapses
(Reuters) - After a folding bench collapsed and killed an
8-year-old boy in a gym at a New Jersey elementary school, an
administrator with the school district said on Thursday there had been
no previous safety issues with the benches.
Second-grader Brendan Jordan was attending a recreational
soccer program at the Berkley Street Elementary School in the New York
City suburb of New Milford on Wednesday evening when the bench, weighing
more than 100 pounds, struck him and sent him crumbling to the floor.
The benches, manufactured by Steelcase's Polyvision unit,
are stored upright along with a table and second bench in separate
recessed wall casings.
Staff at the school, which is about 17 miles northwest of
midtown Manhattan, regularly maintained the equipment and there had been
no safety issues since it was installed 11 years ago, New Milford
Schools Superintendent Michael Polizzi said.
He said the benches and tables operate independently of
one another, and when they are folded and pushed into the casing, they
are secured with pins that keep them in place. Even after the pins are
removed, the benches and tables need to be pushed open, he said.
"None of our students move the tables," Polizzi said.
"None of our students open or close them either. We have not experienced
any tipping."
The boy's coach, Bryan Mone, an off-duty New Milford police
officer, immediately began to administer first aid after the accident
and sent parents to call 911. After emergency services arrived and
rushed the child to Hackensack University Medical Center, he was
pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m.