A Lego display crashes down at a children’s New Year’s Eve celebration inside a Massachusetts arcade, injuring 10 people, authorities say.
The Lego display at the In the Game arcade in Peabody toppled when balloons attached to it were “pulled down,” the Peabody Police Department said Tuesday. The incident occurred during the arcade’s “Noon Year’s Eve” celebration.
Video from the arcade, filmed a day before the incident, captured two massive nets holding hundreds of colorful balloons that were attached to large Lego displays on what appeared to be the second floor of the arcade.
open image in galleryLego display topples, injuring 10 at an arcade during a children’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Massachusetts (In the Game / Screengrab)
Once the celebration began, staff had difficulties releasing the balloons from the netting. An individual yanked too hard, causing one of the eight-foot displays to fall 12 feet to the ground, the Peabody Fire Department told CBS News.
Ten people sustained “minor” injuries, police said. Eight were taken to the hospital for treatment, while the other two refused ambulance rides. Six of those injured were children and four were adults, according to the outlet.
open image in galleryHundreds of balloons hang in netting over an arcade in Massachusetts (In the Game / screengrab)
Lawren Turco, who was at the New Year’s Eve event with her family, told WBZ-TV about the incident: “Large LEGO pieces were everywhere, kids were crying, there were tons of people all in the office some with ice packs over their heads and people allowing their children to steal the Lego pieces like souvenirs.”
Turco continued: “It was pure chaos. I had no idea of the true events until after the incident.”