Thursday, May 10, 2012

Firefighters rescue toddler with arm stuck in gumball machine

Arkansas firefighters found themselves in a sticky situation on Monday afternoon. Texarkana firefighter Vincent Johnson says two-year-old Terrell Parks, Jr. was shopping with his father when he got his arm stuck in a gumball machine.



"I turned my back for one minute. They were trying to get some gum from the gum machine and his hand was stuck up there completely," says Terrell Parks, Sr. Parks, Sr. says he and others could not get little Terrell's arm out of the machine and called the fire department. Johnson says this situation was not a typical rescue.

"As far as helping someone out, that is a normal rescue. But as far as getting an arm out of a gumball machine, that is not a normal rescue," says Johnson. He says firefighters had to manoeuvre little Terrell's arm out of the gumball machine. "Initially, we did not have a plan. We were hoping it would be as easy as putting some oil on it and sliding it out, but it wasn't that simple.


YouTube link.

"We had to disassemble part of the machine and get his hand out," says Johnson. Johnson says rescue crews had to break the glass on the machine spilling gumballs everywhere. Little Terrell's hand was released from the machine but he did not release the gum he went searching for. Johnson says little Terrell was not injured and got to keep his gum along with some extra gumballs.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That'll teach the little larcenist to keep his hands to himself. Might even keep him out of gladiator academy later in life -- but probably not.

Anonymous said...

Nope, he didn't learn his lesson...he got the gum, didn't he?

Anonymous said...

Agreed - letting him keep the gum (and even giving him extra) probably won't deter him from trying it again.

Richard Majece said...

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