Residents of a small northern New Jersey town are in mourning after a freak accident took the life of a 7-year-old boy.
While participating in soccer practice at Berkley Street Elementary School in New Milford, N.J., on Wednesday night, Brendan Jordan was struck on the side of the head by a 108-pound folding lunch table that was falling out of its wall mount, New Milford Detective Lt. Frank Ramaci told NJ.com.
New Milford police officer Bryan Mone was off-duty and coaching the team and immediately began performing CPR on Jordan following the incident. Jordan was moved to Hackensack University Medical Center and pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m.
Although multiple people witnessed the incident, it is not clear if Jordan touched the bench before it fell. The Bergen County Sheriff’s Department crime scene investigation unit and New Milford police were at the site of the incident late into the evening trying to gain more information on what happened.
"At this time, there is no evidence of criminality, nor do we know if the bench was properly secured to the wall," Ramaci said. "Our hearts go out to Brendan's family who are dealing with this tragedy."
New Milford Recreation Director John Bigger called the incident “a freak accident,” and said six teammates were practicing with Jordan when the accident happened.
Michael Polizzi, New Milford Superintendent, told NorthJersey.com that the lunch tables are stored vertically into the wall and are usually secured with a key. He could not tell if the mechanism had been properly locked.
He added that the benches and tables have been in “good working condition” since the school installed them more than a decade ago when an addition was put on the school in 2002 and 2003.
Back in 2012, the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that school children should not be allowed to move folding tables and benches because they can tip over and potentially hurt a child.
