An 11-year-old girl had to be airlifted to a children's hospital after a claw drop arcade game fell over and crushed her inside a Wildwood Crest, N.J. hotel.
The girl, who was visiting the shore resort with her family from Luzerne, Pa., was playing the game inside the the Bal Harbour Hotels' arcade around 10:30 p.m. Thursday when the machine toppled over, Wildwood Crest Police tell NBC10.com. The girl was pinned to the ground by the 800-to-1,000 pound machine and suffered head injuries.
Wildwood Fire Department Deputy Chief Dan Speigel said family members and witnesses were able to lift the machine off of the girl by the time firefighters arrived.
Paramedics rushed her to a waiting medical helicopter which flew her to Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware, officials said. She remains hospitalized and is expected to recover, officials said. She could be released over the weekend.
What caused the machine to overturn remains a mystery, however.
Hotel management did not want to answer questions on Friday, but did release a written statement saying they are investigating what happened. It went on to say it was unknown whether the machine was being shook when it fell.
"It's very unusual. It's actually a first for me for having an arcade machine falling on a child," Speigel said. "Usually those machines don't fall over, they're pretty stable."
