Brooklyn Park boy survives playground hanging accident

A 10-year-old Brooklyn Park boy's play on the monkey bars took an unfortunate drop Tuesday night, leaving him hanging by the neck in a strap until other children rescued him.

According to Brooklyn Park Police, the boy was carrying a strap he had found, when he slipped from the monkey bars. When police arrived, he was found conscious but appeared like "the wind was knocked out of him," said Brooklyn Park Police Commander Mark Bruley.

"He just had found some sort of nylon strap that he was carrying, and he was up on the monkey bars and fell, and in some weird fashion, he got entangled around the neck and was dangerously hanging there," Bruley said.

The playground is at Park Haven Apartments in Brooklyn Park. Police don't know how long the boy was hanging before he was rescued by others at the playground, Bruley said. Police arrived around 6:30 p.m., according to Bruley.

"He had some pretty distinct red marks around his neck where the strap had really dug into his neck," Bruley said. "So it certainly was a serious incident and he's very fortunate to be OK."

Playground injuries are a common occurrence, Bruley said, but he can't recall anything like this.

"It is a little rare," he said. "Kids, you know, they find a lot of unique ways to get themselves injured on a playground."

Police are not releasing the boy's name because he is a juvenile, he said. There was no adult supervision in the immediate area at the time, Bruley said.

Police were initially called to the scene for what they thought was an attempted suicide, Bruley said, but later concluded there was no intent of crime and no negligence.