Power Saw Embeds Itself in Stomach of 3-Year-Old

A 3-year-old Fullerton boy was in critical condition Tuesday after a power saw he accidentally started became embedded in his stomach, police said.

Ryan Anthony Galvan was taken by ambulance to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana for removal of the saw after the 4:06 p.m. accident, Police Sgt. Geoff Spalding said. He was listed in critical condition after surgery, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Police said the power saw apparently had been left in the front yard of the family home by a construction crew that was working on the house, which is in the 1400 block of West Baker Street.

“It was just an accident,” said a tearful Alberta Galvan, a relative who was visiting the family.

Police said the boy’s parents were inside the house at the time. There were no witnesses to the accident.

Residents of the neighborhood said they were shocked by the gruesome and tragic sight of the saw lodged in the little boy’s stomach.

“It was not a pretty sight,” said one neighbor.

The neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said he went to help Ryan’s father who was frantically trying to cut a lock off a fence that surrounded the front courtyard of the house so that paramedics could get in when they arrived.

“He was shaking, and I told him to give me the cutter and I would do it,” said the neighbor.

Another neighbor, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said she heard Ryan’s screams. At first she thought the family’s children were fighting, “but then I realized that they weren’t fighting screams at all.”

Paramedics told their dispatcher the boy’s stomach was cut wide open and that a helicopter should be called in to fly him to the hospital. However, several minutes later it was decided that it would be best to transport Ryan by ambulance with the saw still inside him.

A dispatcher said paramedics responded within two minutes of receiving the initial emergency call from Ryan’s father, but that he called 911 two more times while paramedics were en route, begging for them to get there faster.

Times correspondent Jon Nalick contributed to this report.