A 3-year-old girl was killed after her family's television fell on her head, the second such death in less than two weeks in the Chicago area.
Shaniya Singleton was playing with her 5-year-old brother when she apparently bumped into a TV stand, causing a 27-inch, older-model TV to fall on top of her, crushing her head, WGN reports. Her great-grandmother said she heard a thud upstairs in their home on the 7800 block of South Union Ave. in Hamilton Park, and ran to find Shaniya on the floor at about 5:55 p.m.
"I put my hand under her head. That's when I knew she was bleeding," Johnnie Sibley told WGN. Sibley performed CPR and attempted to stop the bleeding, from an apparent head wound, with a towel while paramedics were called.
Shaniya was taken to Comer Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner's office told Fox Chicago.
Police called the death a "tragic accident," but Wentworth Area detectives are conducting a death investigation pending an autopsy Wednesday, according to Fox. The Chicago Tribune reports that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating neglect allegations in relation to the accident. DCFS had previous contact with the family in 2008 based on an indicated allegation of abuse, spokesman Jimmie Whitelow told the Tribune.
A similar incident killed 6-year-old Karl Clermont on Oct. 30 at his home on the 1700 block of Portsmith Lane in Arlington Heights, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. A TV fell on Clermont's head while he was playing alone, possibly after the boy tried to climb onto the set, police told the Sun-Times. His death was ruled an accident.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that 169 children ages 8 and younger were killed by falling televisions between 2000 and 2010.