Wash. boy dies after being buried in sandbox by friends

[Parche]

Wash. boy dies after being buried in sandbox by friends

09:40 PM PDT on Monday, March 10, 2008

By AP and king5.com Staff

EVERETT, Wash. -- A 10-year-old boy who stopped breathing when his friends buried him in a backyard sandbox died Monday at a Seattle hospital.



Video: Friends buried boy in sand
Six children, ages 8 to 10, were playing at a home near Everett on Saturday when they buried Cody Porter, who is 10.


Cody's half-brother, Joshua Quantrille, 30, told KING-TV that Cody was playing with his own three sons and several other children Saturday in the back yard of a home belonging to a family friend.


There was a sandbox in the back yard, and Quantrille said the TV cartoon "Narutu" gave Cody and his friends the idea of burying him head first in the sand. "They watched a cartoon where they were like sand masters or something and they can manipulate sand or something like that. They came up with the idea that if he were to do this then he would be able to be one of them," he said.


Quantrille said Cody was buried roughly from his head to his chest. At some point, he began thrashing around, but the children apparently thought he was playing.


Eventually they figured out that something was wrong. They pulled Cody out and called the adults inside the home, who administered CPR until an aid car arrived.


Cody was taken first to a local hospital and then to Children's Hospital in Seattle. In a statement, the family said the 10-year-old died peacefully at 3:35 p.m. with his family at his side.


Sheriff's detectives interviewed all of the children and their parents, and they said it was a tragic accident.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I just asked my kids who are 8 and 10 if they would play a game where they bury a friend's head in

the sand. They both said "No way!!" I asked them why and the older one said "He'd suffocate!"

They were quite shocked that this really happened to someone, as am I.

Poor kid. :(