Boy’s Death in Park Raises Safety Questions

The concrete bench that toppled and killed an 8-year-old Laguna Niguel boy during a holiday YMCA outing was not secured to the ground, and other cities said they’ve removed similar heavy park furniture in recent years because of safety concerns.

The 800-pound bench at Chapparosa Park was not anchored to the ground even though the manufacturer said bolting or gluing is necessary to ensure that the bench does not fall over. Other communities that use concrete benches said they make sure they are tightly secured to prevent accidents.

Third-grader Anthony Ferris--a Cub Scout, math lover and yo-yo buff--was fatally injured Monday afternoon after the park bench he and four other children sat atop flipped backward and rolled down an embankment, crushing him. Authorities said the other children on the bench managed to jump off in time.

Friends, neighbors and teachers mourned Anthony’s death Tuesday, placing flowers at the site of the accident and consoling each other at Hidden Hills Elementary School, where he was a student.

At the campus, Principal Ellen Fine read a letter to students that began: “Boys and girls, a very sad thing happened to one of our students.”

The accident occurred two weeks before the YMCA’s program at Hidden Hills is scheduled to end a two-year probationary period imposed by state regulators because of complaints of lax supervision of children.

Dana Williamson, a supervisor with the state Department of Social Services, said the Hidden Hills program has a “long history” of problems but has improved operations in recent years. He said the agency launched a new investigation Tuesday into Anthony’s death, stressing there was no indication of wrongdoing by the YMCA.

Arthur Wannlund, president of the Orange County YMCA, defended the program’s overall safety record, which he described as “excellent.” He said past problems have been resolved and that Monday’s outing was well-supervised--with one adult for every four children.

Wannlund said everything he had heard so far about Monday’s death seemed to point to a “freak accident.”

Five Boys Were Atop Bench’s Back

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the YMCA said that five boys--including Anthony--were seated on the bench back as care providers took attendance for what was to be a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday barbecue.

Sheriff’s investigators told city workers that it took five YMCA employees to pull the bench off of Anthony, who suffered severe head and leg injuries. The popular son of a single working mom who still managed to serve as his Cub Scout troop den mother, Anthony died of cerebral hemorrhage due to blunt force trauma to the head at a nearby hospital about 30 minutes after the Monday afternoon tragedy.

City officials acknowledged Tuesday that the bench was not secured to the ground but said that the park’s plans do not specify that it needed to be.

After Monday’s accident, the city launched an immediate investigation to determine whether other benches posed a similar risk. Officials found that the two concrete benches at the accident site were the only ones in the city’s park system not secured, according to City Manager Tim Casey.

About 40 concrete bus benches aren’t bolted or glued, and Laguna Niguel officials are checking with the manufacturer to see if they should be.

Neighboring Orange County cities use concrete benches in their parks, including some made by the manufacturer of the one involved in Monday’s accident, Fontana-based Dura Art Stone. But officials in other cities stressed that their concrete benches are bolted or glued to the ground.

“The bench is designed to be anchored,” said Tom Seifert, president of Dura Art Stone. “On our detail drawings, in our catalog, it says [the bench] should be anchored down.”

Some Cities Secure or Replace Benches

Increasingly, communities are replacing heavy concrete benches with lighter aluminum or plastic ones because of safety concerns.

San Juan Capistrano, for example, removed all but three concrete benches from its parks, in part because the benches tended to be unstable.

Dana Point Public Works Director Bob Warren, whose city also replaced its concrete benches, said Tuesday he was surprised to hear that the bench in Laguna Niguel wasn’t bolted into place.

“To me, something like that doesn’t look stable on its own,” said Warren. “I’m very, very surprised it wasn’t bolted down because most agencies are aware of liabilities and are conscientious in making sure parks are safe. You would think they would have noticed it wasn’t secure.”

Chapparosa Park was developed in 1989 by the Brea-based Shea Homes Southern California, which built the surrounding neighborhood of homes as well, according to city officials. The park was taken over by the city after its 1990 incorporation.

Shea Homes Southern California issued a brief statement, saying it is investigating the incident and declined to answer other questions.

A worker and a former director of the YMCA program said Tuesday that they believed the city had been warned that the bench was unstable. But city officials said they have no record of such warnings and noted that their own inspections of the park found nothing wrong with the bench.

As school let out Tuesday, parents and classmates of Anthony made a pilgrimage to the park at the end of a cul-de-sac, where the grass remained stained with blood. Flowers and cards were delivered to the playground area.

Laguna Niguel Mayor Mark Goodman’s voice quivered when asked about Anthony. “He was on my youngest boy’s soccer team,” Goodman said. “This really hits close to home. We’re sick about it. . . . But the only thing I can say is that we’ll investigate why it wasn’t secured.”

Times staff writers Megan Garvey, Richard Marosi and Peter M. Warren and correspondents Jason Kandel and Jason Leopold contributed to this report.

* A POPULAR KID: Adults and classmates alike considered Tony special. A18

* TROUBLED PROGRAM: The school’s YMCA program is under state probation. A19

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Scene of Monday’s Accident

Sheriff’s investigators and city officials tried to determine Tuesday how and why a concrete bench at Chapparosa Park toppled and killed an 8-year-old Laguna Niguel boy.

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times