Surveillance video via Fox News
A mom in Kansas could be on the hook for $132,000 after her 5-year-old son “hugged” a glass sculpture, toppling it to the ground, as surveillance video shows.
Sarah Goodman told the Kansas City Star that city officials in Overland Park informed her that its insurance company was contractually obligated to contact her following the May 19 incident at Tomahawk Ridge Community Center, where she, her husband and the couple’s four children attended a wedding reception.
“It’s clear accidents happen, and this was an accident,” Goodman told the newspaper. “I don’t want to diminish the value of their art. But I can’t pay for that.”
Goodman said her son approached the glass sculpture as her family was getting ready to leave. She didn’t see the exact moment he touched the artwork, but video appears to show him grabbing the sculpture near its waist and putting his arms around it briefly before it crashes to the ground.
“He probably hugged it,” she said. “Maybe my son hugged a torso because he’s a loving, sweet, nice boy who just graduated from preschool.”
Goodman said the artwork “needed to be cemented” or kept in a case, saying it was a safety hazard for her son and other children at the venue that day.
“They obviously didn’t secure it safely,” she told the newspaper.
City officials never asked Goodman if her son was hurt during the incident, she said, but they managed to connect with Travelers Insurance to send the letter she received last week.
“This loss occurred when your son was in a closed area of the property and toppled a glass sculpture,” the letter read. “Under common law in Kansas, you are responsible for the supervision of a minor child and your failure to monitor them during this loss could be considered negligent.”
The sculpture, “Aphrodite di Kansas City” by artist Bill Lyons, took two years to finish and was not insured. The accident left the back of the sculpture’s head shattered and parts of both arms damaged so badly so that it cannot be repaired, he said.
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“I want to be reimbursed for the amount of time that I spent on it and for what I think it is worth,” Lyons told the newspaper.
Goodman, meanwhile, is hoping her insurance company will handle the matter. She insisted neither she nor her son was to blame for the accident.
“Our kids were well-supervised and well-behaved,” she said. “We were just standing down the hallway following the bride and groom out.”
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