A tragic treadmill accident this week claimed the life of former heavyweight
boxing champion Mike Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter Exodus On Monday,
her 7-year-old brother found her with the cord that hangs from a treadmill
console wrapped around her neck. Following the strangulation accident,
Exodus’s mother tried to revive her with CPR while waiting for the
paramedics to arrive at their home. The girl was then taken to a local
hospital where she was placed on life support. Exodus died on Tuesday morning.
Treadmill Accidents
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that every year, at
least 2,600 kids are hurt in treadmill accidents end up in US emergency
rooms. In Philadelphia alone, 12 children were injured in treadmill accidents
in 2001—six of those injuries involved kids getting their hands
stuck in the exercise machine’s belt. Their injuries were serious
enough to require plastic surgery so they could open up their hands.
There also have been reports that hard edges, moving parts, and the programmed
speeds of a treadmill can cause unexpected injuries to people. Researchers
say that modifying treadmill designs, such as making the exercise machine
harder to start and easier to stop, could prevent some of these accidents
from happening.
The CPSC says that the treadmill is not the only kind of exercise equipment
that has been known to cause injury to kids. Also:
- About 25,000 children under the age of 14 are injured on exercise equipment every year.
- Some 8,700 of these accidents involve kids younger than 5.
- Stationary bikes and stair climbers are two other kinds of exercise equipment that have been known to cause injuries to children.
- Amputations and fractures make up 20% of injuries to minors caused by exercise equipment.
While there are safety precautions that parents can take to protect their
kids from getting hurt on a treadmill or another kind of exercise equipment,
it is still up to the equipment manufacturer to make sure that their products
do not have any design defects or manufacturing flaws that could cause
cause injury or death if the equipment malfunctions. Warning of any potential
hazards that may arise must be included with the product when it is delivered
to the consumer.
Tyson’s Tragedy Shows Treadmill Danger, ABC News, May 27, 2009
Kids and treadmills: a bad combination, TampaBay.com, May 28, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Exercise (And Children On Exercise Machines), UAB Health Systems
CPSC
Throughout the US, our products liability lawyers represent families of children that were seriously injured in accidents involving defective or malfunctioning consumer products. Contact The Gilbert Law Group, P.C. today.
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