Child ends up in construction hole while waiting for bus
5:07 p.m. Friday, November 16, 2007
About a dozen rescuers huddled around a hole, digging, trying to free 6-year-old Jacobe Grier.
"I fell in the hole," Jacobe said.
While waiting for his school bus, Jacobe fell feet first into a four-and-a-half foot deep, wedging his leg underneath him.
The excavation holes are part of a construction site for a new home. When Jacobe fell in, his brother went to their dad for help.
"His brother came running back up to the house and told me that he was hurt," dad Joey Grier said. "He didn't say nothing about being in the hole."
But Jacobe was not hurt, just stuck. First, neighbors tried to get him out, but then they had to call the Fire Department for help.
"Once they shored up the hole, they dug a hole parallel to his hole and then kind of moved the bridge between 'em," Topeka Fire Marshal Greg Bailey said.
And after some more digging, Jacobe was freed.
"Quite an impressive young man," Bailey said. "He was cool, calm, and collected the whole time that he was there."
Both Jacobe's dad and Fire Marshall Bailey think it was a case of kids being kids.
"We had a situation where there was boards, or there was a covering over the holes, but curious youth will tend to maybe move something like that out of the way," Bailey said.
But everyone was thankful that everything turned out okay.
"Grateful that, thanks to all these guys that got him out," Joey said.
Even Jacobe.
" 'Cause it's much better out than staying in the hole," Jacobe said.
He was stuck for about an hour, but wasn't hurt, just a little shaken.
The contractor at the site has been notified, and the hole is being filled Friday.
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