Officials Looking at Bench Hazards

As grief-torn friends and relatives of Tony Ferris gather today for his funeral, hundreds of potential public hazards such as the free-standing concrete bench that toppled and crushed the popular 8-year-old Monday are still scattered across parks and bus stops in Orange County, an informal survey of cities and agencies has found.

In some localities, the tragedy and calls from worried parents prompted officials to send out crews to inspect benches and determine whether they are safe. In some cities, crews are scheduled to remove them or secure them as a safety precaution.

In others, free-standing benches apparently will be left unsecured for the time being as officials decide on local policies in the wake of the boy’s death.

But as the dust begins to settle from the freakish accident in Laguna Niguel, experts cautioned that parks cannot be too safe.

“Safety’s got to be your No. 1 priority in this business,” said county parks chief Tim Miller. “Our goal is to make sure the facilities are as safe as possible.”

Of the county’s 20 regional parks, eight are in urban areas but have no concrete benches, Miller said.

However, hundreds of concrete benches weighing from hundreds of pounds to as much as a ton anchor bus stops and provide relief along city walks and in some parks across Orange County. In some cases, local officials don’t consider free-standing bus-stop benches to be potential hazards and have no plans to anchor them.

Asked whether the benches could be tied down for an extra measure of safety, city officials said it might make more sense to remove them.

“Many of them are not designed to be tied down,” said George Tindall, city manager in Garden Grove, where bus stops have concrete benches. “I’m sure you could make a custom tie-down, but it might be easier to just get rid of it if it’s a risk.”

Santa Ana has about 300 concrete bus-stop benches and doesn’t believe they pose a risk, said Will Hayes, enterprise director for the city. Similar benches, weighing 800 pounds, are used in bus stops in Costa Mesa, where city traffic officials met to review them.

“You need a crane to move and set them,” said Russell Yankee, the city’s traffic maintenance supervisor.

Yankee and his counterparts in other cities said their benches are low to the ground and have wide pedestals, in contrast to the concrete bench in Laguna Niguel, which has a tapered base.

In Villa Park, two decorative concrete benches donated by a civic club adorn the walkway in front of City Hall. The benches are not bolted or cemented to the sidewalk, but city officials believe they pose no danger.

“They’re very low to the ground and are extremely stable,” said City Manager Fred Maley, who said he inspected the benches himself.

Similar benches are in front of the Stanton City Hall, weighing nearly 2,000 pounds each, and are not secured to the ground. “They’re not going anywhere,” said Craig Stubbe, public works director.

But there are even greater levels of caution in other cities. Because of Tony Ferris’ death, San Juan Capistrano officials will remove three concrete benches in a local park.

“Kids are kids,” said Jack Galaviz, public works manager. “The chances of getting hurt are less if we have aluminum benches.”

Similarly, in Cypress, three free-standing concrete benches in Darryl Essex Park will be removed as a result of the accident and telephone calls from residents.

Some city officials questioned whether facilities such as parks and playgrounds can ever be designed to guard against all possible injuries, saying they’d never heard of a case where a child was trapped beneath a falling bench.

“I think the real key here when something happens like this is making sure there is proactive preventive maintenance,” said Roy Stephenson, public works director in Yorba Linda.

Tony Ferris was part of a YMCA day-care outing at Chapparosa Park in Laguna Niguel and, with several other children, was sitting on the bench when it tipped and rolled, crushing the Hidden Hills Elementary School third-grader as his playmates managed to scamper to safety.

The manufacturer of the bench, Dura Art Stone of Fontana, said the concrete benches in Laguna Niguel should have been anchored to the ground, but Timothy Casey, Laguna Niguel’s city manager, said no installation instructions were included in plans for Chapparosa Park, which the city acquired from its developer, Brea-based Shea Homes Southern California, in 1992.

After Monday’s accident, the concrete bench that toppled and an identical bench were removed from Chapparosa Park. Laguna Niguel officials inspected other benches in the city and determined that they were safe, Casey said. He said exhaustive inspections of all park equipment and furniture will be undertaken to ensure that no other public hazards exist.

“We’re probably looking at that today through different eyes than we would have had at this time last week,” Casey said. “Let’s look at this from the perspective of a bunch of 8-year-old boys, and try to remember what it was like when we were 8-year-old boys and girls.

“We might be city leaders, but we are also family people, and an incident of this nature cuts to the core.”

Services for Tony Ferris will be at 1 p.m. today at El Toro Memorial Park in Lake Forest.

A fund has been established to help pay for the funeral. Donations may be sent to the Anthony Ferris Memorial Fund, Southern California Bank, 3000 Town Center Drive, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677.

Times correspondents Jason Leopold and Jason Kandel and staff writers Nancy Wride and Megan Garvey contributed to this story.

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How the Bench Toppled

The freak accident that killed 8-year-old Tony Ferris earlier in the week at Chapparosa Park was triggered by a seemingly insignificant weight shift that caused an unsecured 800-pound bench to tumble down a hill and crush the Laguna Niguel boy, according to city officials. How it happened:

1) One child stands up

2) Bench tips backward

3) All children but Tony jump clear

4) Tony leans forward to catch his balance

5) Bench topples over Tony

6) Bench pins Tony to the ground, crushing his head and leg

Note: Tony’s exact sitting position on the backrest remains unknown

Source: Summary of witness accounts presented to the Laguna Niguel City Council by City Manager Timothy J. Casey

Graphics reporting by MEGAN GARVEY and BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times