GA - Charles Holt, 5, fatally injured at Atlanta revolving restaurant, Apr 2017

gregjrichards

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"A five-year-old boy tragically died on Friday afternoon when he got his head stuck at the rotating restaurant of a popular tourist location in Atlanta.

The child was said to be visiting with his family from Charlotte, North Carolina, and they stopped to have lunch at the Sun Dial Restaurant located on the 72nd floor of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel.

The restaurant spins to offer 360 degree views of the city's skyline, and the boy reportedly became lodged between the wall and a rotating table."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...un-Dial-restaurant-Atlanta.html#ixzz4eHlq3694

Terrible tragedy condolences to the boy's family. I've been to the revolving restaurant at the CN Tower in Toronto and it is hard to understand how a tragedy like this could happen.
 
Just awful. I look at pictures, and can't imagine how it happened.

The boy's parents were sitting at the table and the child apparently wandered 4 to 5 feet away, when he got caught between the rotating portion of the floor and a wall, a space of only about 4 to 5 inches.

[...]

Pickard said the staff and patrons at the restaurant immediately jumped into action to try to render first aid to the child.

"The amount of people who were helping was amazing," Pickard said. "They were moving furniture, they were pulling chairs -- chairs that were bolted to the floor -- they were pulling them up to try to get the child out."
<snip> http://www.wral.com/5-year-old-dies-after-injury-at-rotating-restaurant-in-atlanta/16644885/
 
Freak accident.
The Sundial has been there since 1976.
My 5 yr olds were required to remain seated at the table and not allowed to leave without me or husband supervising them.
Especially in a high end restaurant.
No one is at fault, but people need to more aware of where their children are and take proper precautions to ensure they stay at the table.

I am praying for the family, employees and patrons that witnessed this!

MOO
 
The floor automatically stopped as it is designed to do when something is caught. The boy suffered serious head injuries and was taken to a hospital, where he died, the officer said.

"We know they (were) the last customers for the lunch crowd, and this was very tragic," Pickard said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/15/us/atlanta-sun-dial-restaurant-boy-dies/

I wondered if they had an automatic shutoff and sensors to detect an obstruction. This says they did.

Notable that they were the last patrons to leave when it happened.

This has more detail on how he was pinned, and all of it is conflicting: (BBM):

Atlanta Fire Department spokesman Sgt. Cortez Stafford tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://on-ajc.com/2ocIolu ) the little boy got his head stuck between two tables and suffered a head injury Friday.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/1...ing-stuck-at-atlanta-rotating-restaurant.html

Atlanta Fire Department spokesman Sgt. Cortez Stafford says the little boy got his head stuck between a wall and a table, and suffered a head injury Friday.

http://wgntv.com/2017/04/15/boy-dies-after-getting-stuck-at-atlanta-rotating-restaurant/

Pickard said the staff and patrons at the restaurant immediately jumped into action to try to render first aid to the child.

"The amount of people who were helping was amazing," Pickard said. "They were moving furniture, they were pulling chairs -- chairs that were bolted to the floor -- they were pulling them up to try to get the child out."

First responders were at the restaurant in a matter of minutes. However, the boy was unconscious when he was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital, and he later died.

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/6-year-old-injured-at-sun-dial-rotating-restaurant/431388926

A 5-year-old died Friday after being crushed between the floor and the wall of a rotating restaurant in Atlanta, police said.

The boy suffered serious head injuries after being caught in a space no bigger than 4-5 inches, Atlanta Police Department spokesperson Warren Pickard, told reporters, and was taken to the Grady Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

He was with his mother and father having lunch at the Sun Dial, a popular tourist attraction at the top of the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel.

The boy was no more than 4 or 5 feet from his parents, Pickard said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boy-5-crushed-death-sun-dial-rotating-restaurant-atlanta-n746901

I'm glad more info about the boy's distance from parents and circumstances is coming out. Early reports made it sound like the child had been wandering in the restaurant for some time without the parent's notice. After 40 years in operation without any of these kind of accidents, I really want to know more about the specificsof what exactly happened before so many race to place blame on either the restaurant, or the parents. I never believe in letting kids wander in restaurants-- don't bring them if they can't sit still-- but if they *were* the last patrons, and he was truly *only* 4-5 feet away, I could see a reasonable situation to allow him to stand up and move around a little bit. It's still baffling to see how entrapment could occur and get to a point of no return, without anyone noticing. These things move at like 1-2 mph. And most have automatic stop mechanisms. This one did.

A real tragedy. I'm hopeful more will come out. Hopefully there's no lawsuit necessary.
 
I'd also be interested to know how many were in their party, and how many were kids/ ages, etc. If it's a large family with a lot of kids younger than him, it's easy to see how their attention could have been distracted from the oldest. Articles say they were visiting from Charlotte.

I don't "blame" the parents, anymore than I "blame" the restaurant or mechanism, but I do believe there is an element of lapsed or absent parental supervision/ attention to what he was doing, that allowed this to unfold with fatal consequences. As I said, these rotating restaurants move extremely slowly, and there was a stop mechanism that engaged.

Some commenters elsewhere compare this to the disney alligator tragedy with the 2yo that died, but I don't think the 2 situations are at all comparable.
 
Here's another description that says his ENTIRE body was trapped in the 4"-5" space, not just his head:

Police said Charles Holt, 5, wandered away from his family's table and got lodged between the wall and a table as the floor rotated.

"His whole body was caught between may've four to five inches of space. His head took the brunt of the injury,," Atlanta police Sgt. Warren Pickard said.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/child-dies-from-head-injury-at-sun-dial-restaurant/512687323

So perhaps he was playing around and started squeezing himself into the small space, then by the time it was noticed, or he called for help, it was too late? I'm envisioning the space where the fixed portion of the interior wall gap and the outer wall come together, with the floor rotating. We were just at a rotating restaurant a few weeks ago, and I was looking at how it all worked.

[
He got caught between the revolving floor and a wall at the restaurant. The revolving floor automatically shut off and Westin's security staff and employees were able to dislodge the child, but he had critical injuries.

Atlanta police spokeswoman Officer Stephanie Brown said that, at some point, the boy wandered away from the table where his parents were seated near a window.

http://www.austin360.com/news/natio...ng-rooftop-restaurant/aCmsAUGWwQgGM8YuB7EVeP/

None of the online articles mention that there were any other children or adults at the table, only his parents.
 
"The Westin Peachtree Plaza, The Sun Dial Restaurant, Bar & View offers unparalleled views and a distinct Atlanta dining experience that makes the most of the city’s proximity to local, farm-to-table ingredients. A tri-level complex, The Sun Dial features a revolving upscale restaurant, a rotating cocktail lounge and an observatory level with a breathtaking 360-degree panorama of the magnificent skyline from 723 feet above." bbm
^ http://www.sundialrestaurant.com/view/virtual-tour/ ^

At About/FAQs tabs, a children's menu is shown for 12 & under
.
https://youtu.be/p_kJmZTBckU. 2:23 min virtual tour (I think of all three levels - restaurant, bar, observatory).
At ~ 1:58-2:02 a curved metal track in carpeted floor is visible, presumably part of the rotation mechanism. In vid & in gallery pix, I did not see where a person could be stuck or compressed between table & wall, but imo is likely not included in vid or pix. Maybe someone else would spot such a place?

JM2cts.

RIP little one. Thoughts & prayers to you parents, family, friends, & community.
 
Just awful. I look at pictures, and can't imagine how it happened.
<snip> http://www.wral.com/5-year-old-dies-after-injury-at-rotating-restaurant-in-atlanta/16644885/
"Pickard said the staff and patrons at the restaurant immediately jumped into action to try to render first aid to the child.
"The amount of people who were helping was amazing," Pickard said. "They were moving furniture, they were pulling chairs -- chairs that were bolted to the floor -- they were pulling them up to try to get the child out.
" bbm

but, from K_Z post # 4:
"Notable that they were the last patrons to leave when it happened." bbm

If parents & child were the only table/patrons left, which patrons were still there to " immediately" jump into action? IDK.


BTW, not criticizing reporters because it's likely imo, diff ppl there at scene saw diff facets of events & told MSM diff info. And some ppl who gave accounts to MSM or SM may not have even been there at all. IDK.

 
Child killed in Sun Dial restaurant accident identified

ATLANTA, Ga -- The five-year old boy who died after getting trapped at the top of downtown's Sun Dial restaurant has been identified.

The exact cause of death for Charles Holt is still pending, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner.

Charles died after he sustained head injuries at the popular Atlanta tourist location Friday afternoon.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/child-killed-in-sun-dial-restaurant-accident-identified/431565075

Child crushed to death in accident at Atlanta revolving restaurant

A 5-year-old boy sustained fatal injuries at a rotating restaurant atop a skyscraper in downtown Atlanta when his head became lodged between a stationary wall and a table affixed to the slow-moving floor, officials said on Saturday.

The Sun Dial restaurant's automatic systems stopped the floor's rotating motion when the child became stuck on Friday and then employees dislodged him from the tight space, Atlanta police said in a statement. But the child was critically injured and died later that day at a hospital.

His death was ruled accidental and he was found to have suffered crushing injuries to his head and brain, it said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-georgia-restaurant-idUSKBN17H0LY

BBM. Beginning to be able to visualize what may have happened-- piecing together reports.
 
A patron filmed it. I find this extremely disturbing and it makes me question what the hell is wrong with people!

MOO
 
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When clicking on your ^ attachment, I get this message:
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Anyone else get same message or actually see pic? Another link? Or can this be fixed? TiA,
 
When clicking on your ^ attachment, I get this message:
Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator.

Anyone else get same message or actually see pic? Another link? Or can this be fixed? TiA,


I get the same response alpine.
 
"The family of a young boy who was killed at a popular rotating restaurant in Atlanta have released a picture of the five-year-old.

Charlie Holt suffered a severe head injury on Friday when he got stuck between the table, which was rotating, and the wall at the Sun Dial restaurant on the 72nd floor of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4417624/Boy-killed-getting-head-stuck.html#ixzz4eTzEvBiv

Photo of Charlie at the link above he was such a handsome young man. What a terrible tragedy. I just read someone filmed it on page one of this thread that's just so insensitive and disgusting. I don't know what is wrong with people in society nowadays.
 
Godspeed Charlie :angel:
charlie sundial westin atlanta 2017.jpg

Such a horrible and sad tragedy.
My heart goes out to Charlie, his family, friends and loved ones.
Also, to the people who witnessed this tragedy and all who gave aide trying to save his young life.

I have been to the Sun Dial Restaurant/Lounge a few times over the years and I have always loved watching the breathtaking view while enjoying a champagne or two.
 
Godspeed Charlie :angel:
View attachment 115152

Such a horrible and sad tragedy.
My heart goes out to Charlie, his family, friends and loved ones.
Also, to the people who witnessed this tragedy and all who gave aide trying to save his young life.

I have been to the Sun Dial Restaurant/Lounge a few times over the years and I have always loved watching the breathtaking view while enjoying a champagne or two.

Is there anything you think the restaurant could do to try and prevent a future tragedy? I don't blame the restaurant at all or the parents and realise not all tragedies can be prevented. It's terrible that this has happened in a restaurant which has brought so much enjoyment. It's a great way to see a city view. I'm sure the staff are devastated too.
 
&#8220;The family of a 5-year-old boy whose skull was crushed in the rotating wall of a hotel restaurant has sued the Atlanta hotel, accusing it of negligence in his death.

Attorney Joseph Fried filed suit Wednesday for Rebecca and Michael Holt of Charlotte, North Carolina, whose son Charlie died April 14.

'What started out as the best family trip, turned into the worst nightmare,' Rebecca Holt said in a statement emailed by Fried.

They had chosen the Sun Dial restaurant 'because it was recommended as a fun place for families with kids to see the Atlanta skyline and enjoy a meal,' Charlie's father, Michael Holt, said in the statement.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rushed-rotating-restaurant.html#ixzz4ylUKnvTv
 

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