Toddler trapped in claw machine rescued by Australian police
An adventurous three-year-old boy had to be freed from a claw machine by Australian police after he crawled inside looking for a prize.
A Facebook video released by the Queensland police on Feb 1 showed the toddler named Ethan grinning in a pit of Hello Kitty stuffed toys as four officers used “out-of-the-box thinking” to rescue the boy.
“He was in no hurry to get out”, the police told Australian media outlets.
Ethan was visiting a Queensland shopping centre with his family on Jan 27 when he crawled into the machine through its prize dispenser chute.
Ethan’s father Timothy Hopper told The Guardian he had turned his back for a split-second while shopping for groceries and was surprised by how quickly his son got inside the machine.
Describing the boy as a fan of claw machines, Mr Hopper said the boy had “the time of his life” inside the machine after realising he was “the king of the mountain”.
He added: “I messaged my old man and he asked me how many two-dollar coins do we have. It was quite funny”.
Mr Hopper said he called the claw machine company, who were just as perplexed at what was happening.
He said: “They were asking me, ‘How much money have I put in the machine? Is the money stuck in the machine?’ My response was, ‘The only thing stuck in the machine is my child, I would love to have him back’.”
A video of the rescue showed the unfazed toddler being persuaded to move to the edge of the glass compartment, where he was asked to cover his eyes.
“Police ensured Ethan was at a safe distance before breaking a glass window of the machine in order to free him,” Queensland police told AFP.
After the boy was lifted out and returned to his parents, an officer quipped: “You won a prize, which one do you want?”
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