A 7-year-old boy was killed by a falling bench while playing soccer inside a New Jersey elementary school, police say.
Brenden Jordan was crushed by the bench at Berkley Street Elementary School in New Milford Wednesday night, New Milford Detective Lt. Frank Ramaci said.
Jordan kicked a ball toward a wall where benches and folding tables were stowed, Ramaci said. When he ran over to retrieve it, an unsecured bench, which weighs about 108 pounds, fell on top of him.
The impact caused severe head trauma. It's not clear if Jordan had touched the bench before it fell.
Ramaci said that an off-duty cop who was coaching the soccer game ran over to give Jordan CPR. The child was taken to a hospital but died from his injuries before arriving at an emergency room, authorities said.
Jordan was from New Milford and was a student at Gibbs Elementary School. Grief counselors were available at both schools.
Ramaci said that investigators don't think any crimes were committed in the child's death.
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School superintendent Michael Polizzi said that the bench is connected to a table that folds vertically into the wall. He said each individual table is normally secured with a key -- there is no one single master lock for the whole wall, or even for each table-and-bench set. Each piece that goes into the wall, whether it's a bench or a table, must be locked independently, he said.
He said the tables were all double-checked and found to be in "good working order," and that the school has never had a problem with them since they were installed about 11 years ago.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned in 2012 of the potential safety risk of the tables, saying it had received reports of several deaths and injuries in schools when the tables tipped over. It warned that most accidents happened during afterschool or during nonschool activities and warned schools to not allow children to move the tables or play with them.
"It's a tremendous loss for all of us, a shock for the family especially," Polizzi said. "I can't imagine the void the family will feel.
John Bigger, the recreation director for New Milford, told The Record that the boy was a member of the borough's indoor soccer team and was with a group of six 7- and 8-year-old children practicing for their Sunday opener. He said practices in the gym were suspended for a few days while it is inspected, and he doesn't know if the team will play Sunday.
