In two separate incidents, a 3-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl died within weeks of each other after dressers fell on them.
Johan Garcia, the three year old, died around 2 p.m. May 16 on the southwest side of Chicago, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, which ruled the death an accident, WLS reported.
On July 9, 1-year-old Ximena Martinez died after a dresser fell on top of the toddler, Chicago Police said.
Furniture tipping over has been a cause of numerous injuries and fatalities.
A 2022 CPSC report on furniture, TV, and appliance tip-over injuries and fatalities shows an estimated annual average (2018-2020) of 22,500 Americans required hospital emergency-department treatment for tip-over injuries, nearly 44% of whom were children under 18 years of age.
The report found that since 2000, there have been 581 tip-over fatalities involving furniture, TVs, or appliances, of which 472 were children (81%, ages 17 years and younger). Among the report’s other findings:
- 71% of all child fatalities involved a television
- 62% of fatalities of all age groups involved a television
- 55% of fatalities involved people being crushed, and
- Head injuries accounted for 66% of fatalities.
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