So sad! A four-year-old girl died at her home on Sunday after a TV fell on her head. Gianna Hadjis, from University Park, Chicago, was pronounced dead at 2:54pm at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Though two adults were present in the house at the time of her death, police do not suspect foul play and believe it to be a ‘horrible accident’. University Park Police Chief Mel Davis said the older box-style television accidentally toppled and fell on her head when she was playing by herself in the living room.
Her father Adam, who is not with Gianna’s mother, last saw his daughter more than a week ago and was in Minnesota when she died.
He said, ‘They told me her skull was severely crushed after the TV fell on her and she had a massive bruise on the bridge of her nose. ‘Most people are more concerned with what their children are watching than the TV itself.’
He was cooking breakfast at his home when the girl’s mother called him. He rushed to the hospital but she was already dead by the time he arrived. He said: ‘I missed her by an hour. One minute she’s there full of life, the next minute she’s gone.’
He said he does not blame Gianna’s mother or her boyfriend – who were in the house when it happened – but said people should learn from what happened. ‘The most important thing is to warn other people with children that if they own a television that is unstable they can be putting their child at risk,’ he said.
The couple have decided to donate their daughter’s heart to a child the same age as Gianna. She’s the third child who has been killed by a falling television in the Chicago area in the past three months. Shaniya Singleton, three, was killed on November 8 when a TV fell on her at her home in the 7800 block of South Union in Chicago.
Karl Clermont, six, died on October 30 when a TV fell on him in Arlington Heights. All of the accidents involved older, heavier TV sets.
Dr. Karen Sheehan, medical director of the injury prevention and research center at Children’s Memorial Hospital, says parents need to secure unstable televisions and other furniture pieces.
‘You can buy straps to help secure the TV better or get a stand that’s made for a TV,’ she said. ‘But if you can’t find a stand for the TV, sometimes it might be safer on the floor.’
What do you think?
via BlackMediaScoop
