Toddler injured in 12-foot fall through bleachers

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Jan. 21, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

BEMIDJI, Minn. -- A family gathering turned into a tragedy Wednesday for a family attending a Bemidji State University women's basketball game.

Kevin and Dawn Larson of Solway had taken their three children to watch a family member who plays on the visiting University of Minnesota-Morris team.

But midway through the game, 2 1/2-year-old Madisson Larson was playing on the BSU Gymnasium bleachers with her twin brother, Tristen, when she fell through a space between the bleachers and a permanent stairway. Their mother was standing next to the children when the accident happened.

The girl fell through the 12-inch space from a height of approximately 12 feet to the gymnasium floor.

BSU personnel tried to extricate the girl, but the design of the bleachers allows for access only through the same space where Madisson fell through, or by rolling back the bleachers.

Craig Stinson, BSU director of campus recreation, said BSU officials made the decision to allow emergency personnel to decide whether to enter the space or roll back the bleachers.

When emergency personnel arrived, they entered the space and brought Madisson out to a stretcher, then transported her to North Country Regional Hospital.

An emergency room spokesman at the hospital Wednesday night reported the girl was in stable condition.

At the time of the accident, the bleachers, equipped with removable metal guard railings, were blocked off with appropriate railings for the lower half of the bleachers. However, the metal guard railings were not installed on the top half of the bleachers and were lying between bleacher seats.

Stinson said he didn't know why the guard railings were not in place.

When emergency personnel first entered the gymnasium, with a little more than 30 second remaining in the first half of the game, officials called time out for about five minutes. It was then decided to play out the final 30 seconds and get the players off the floor.

The girl was trapped under the bleachers for about 10 minutes and her cries were audible throughout the gymnasium.

"She was down there for a long time," said Madisson's grandfather, Bill Austin of Barnesville." At least it seemed like a long time. (Even though she is out) it is still scary."

Bill and his wife, Elaine, were at the basketball game for the family gathering and planned after the game to take their grandchildren home for a visit.

"We came up to see them so we could take them home with us," said a teary-eyed Elaine Austin.

Madisson's brother, Tristen, looked visibly shaken but was unhurt.

Wednesday's Bemidji accident occurred just 17 days after the accidental death of a 6-year-old boy in a similar fall from a so-called "open bleacher" at a Hutchinson hockey arena. Toby Lee of Mound was fatally injured Jan. 3 when he fell through the 13-inch gap between the footboards and seats on the 21-year-old bleachers at the Hutchinson Civic Arena. Lee's 11-year-old brother was on the ice, about to begin skating for a team coached by their father Randy Lee of Mound.

The Jan. 3 tragedy has spurred a statewide bleacher safety campaign led by parents from the Mound-Westonka Hockey Association, who were present when the accident happened, and other parents. The group's goal is to retrofit exiting "open bleachers" with safety nets, such as those installed under temporary bleachers at the St. Michael-Albertville Arena, which opened Dec. 19.

The group first plans to survey all youth hockey associations in Minnesota to determine the type of bleachers in the state's ice arenas and alert their managers to the potential problem. Then the group plans to lobby the Legislature to seek funding for retrofitting or replacement of the "open bleachers." If successful, the group hopes to expand its safe bleacher campaign to so-called "open bleachers" at parks and athletic fields across Minnesota. Those bleachers probably number in the thousands.

The current state standard for all bleachers specifies the space between footboards and seats cannot allow a 9-inch sphere to pass through, according to a state Building Codes and Standards Department spokesman.

Ironically, the Minnesota Ice Arena Managers Association board of directors was scheduled to discuss the Hutchinson tragedy at its monthly meeting Wednesday.