Boy Dies After Concrete Bench Falls on Him

An 8-year-old boy was fatally injured Monday afternoon when a concrete park bench overturned on him during a YMCA outing, police said.

Anthony Ferris of Laguna Niguel died about 30 minutes later, apparently from head trauma, at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, Deputy Coroner Cullen Ellingburgh said.

The boy was in a group of children from Hidden Hills Elementary School under YMCA supervision for extended day care on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

Three or four 8-year-old boys from the campus, which is in the Capistrano Unified School District, were playing on the bench at Chapparosa Park off Golden Lantern in Laguna Niguel when it tipped backward, pinning Anthony underneath, said Lt. Mike Heacock of the Sheriff’s Department. The child was struck in the head and leg. Emergency personnel said the boys were being supervised by a 28-year-old counselor from the YMCA.

YMCA officials could not be reached for comment Monday night. The person answering the phone at the South Coast YMCA asked callers to inquire this morning. The coroner’s office said an autopsy would be conducted today.