8 Hospitalized, Including Children, After Toy Brick Display Falls on Crowd

We’ve all done it. We’re walking across what we assume to be a clean carpet with no obstacles, only to take one step directly onto one of those tiny toy bricks. We all know the shooting pain. Now imagine what it feels like to have a tower of toy bricks fall 12 feet onto your head.

During a New Year’s Eve celebration designed for kids at the In The Game Family Fun Center in Massachusetts, a giant display was accidentally knocked down as a host of balloons came sprawling down to replicate the Times Square ball drop. What transpired was everyone who was sitting on the ground by the toy brick statue, presumably many children, being toppled with the remnants. 

The Peabody Police Department reported that 10 individuals sustained minor injuries with eight being transported to the local hospital. Two of the 10 refused medical treatment.  NBC 10 Boston reports that five children were in the group of individuals who were hurt in the incident. 

NBC also spoke with a 13-year-old who was in attendance at the event. He mentioned that an ambulance and a fire truck showed up shortly after the toy brick tower collapsed. Apparently the fire truck came because they initially thought the roof had collapsed. I guess showing up to discover it was just a ton of toy bricks is better than a roof caving in, right?

The toy bricks obviously were the biggest culprit here but it also seems like the net that was the balloons created problems, too. WCVB spoke with another person who was there that mentioned the netting basically locking in the kids. 

“Lots of kids crying, there was a man holding the net up because there were kids kind of trapped underneath,” Michelle Kundicz told the ABC affiliate.

What a poorly planned event. Geez.