Shoelaces Snag Boy on Slide, Killing Him

A 4-year-old boy was strangled accidentally Monday when shoelaces became wrapped around his neck as he rode down a playground slide in Santa Ana, police said.

“Apparently two shoelaces had been tied together and left near the slide and somehow the boy got it around his neck. By the time help arrived, it was too late,” Santa Ana Police Lt. Gregory Cooper said.

The boy was identified as Plese Williams of Long Beach. Cooper said the boy and his mother, who was not identified, were visiting friends at the Nantucket apartments next to the playground in the 700 block of South Lyon Street.

Children Find Body

No one apparently witnessed the accident, but Cooper said that several children found the boy hanging from the circular slide at about 3:30 p.m.

Police officers and paramedics administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but the youngster was pronounced dead at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Cooper said the boy had been playing with several other children.

A coroner’s office spokesman said the shoelaces apparently had been left hanging on a support post of the slide. When the boy slid down, the shoelaces wrapped around his neck, stopping his downward progress, the spokesman said.

Residents told police that the shoelaces had been hanging on the slide for some time before the accident, Cooper said.