Monday, May 7, 2012

Boy, 12, crushed to death in roll-up gate

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By NBCNewYork.com

A 12-year-old New York City boy was crushed to death when he got caught in an electronic roll-up gate where he was playing.

Police say Yakim McDaniels suffered severe head trauma and was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Witnesses say McDaniels was playing near the gate at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday on Lott Avenue in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.

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Fire officials say the boy's hand got caught in the parking lot gate as it started to rise.

The boy's upper body then became wedged in the top part of the gate's frame and rescue crews had to cut through the metal to get him out.

"The little boy just was hanging down from the waist, up to the neck was wrapped up in that," said a witness, Henrietta Alston. "And they had to try to cut the gate down to get him out."

His mother, Doris Chase, told NBC 4 New York that she passed out when she was told what happened.

"Somebody came and got me and told me my son was on the gate. By the time I got out here, he was already stuck on the gate," she said.

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