Police: 2-year-old toddler dies after found tangled in blinds

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The death of a toddler last week was ruled accidental after they were found tangled in blinds in one of the bedrooms of the house in Green Bay, Wisconsin, police say.

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The Green Bay Police Department in a news release said that the death of a 2-year-old child last week was ruled accidental.

Police say officers were called out to a house in the 600 block of Irwin Avenue last Thursday about a child that was found unconscious and not breathing, according to WBAY.

The toddler was reportedly found tangled in the pull cord of bedroom blinds, witnesses told police.

The Brown County Office of the Medical Examiner ruled the death as an accidental asphyxial death, police say.

“Green Bay Police would like to remind parents and caregivers to please take precautions to keep dangling cords from window coverings out of reach from children or invest in cordless window coverings, which can reduce the risk of strangulation or serious injury,” police say.

No arrests have been made, according to police.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said on average around nine children under the age of 5 die each year from strangling in window blinds, shades, draperies, and other window coverings with cords,” according to WBAY.

Between 2009 and 2021, there were more than 200 strangulation incidents involving window cords and children 8 years and younger, CPSC said, according to the news outlet. About 48% of those incidents resulted in death. Some that survived had “life-changing injuries” that included permanent brain damage and quadriplegia.

CPSC advice for keeping children safe from window cords:

• Keep window covering cords out of children’s reach
• Move cribs, beds, furniture, and toys away from windows and cords
• Make sure pull cords are short as possible
• Make sure that the cord stops are installed correctly and adjusted to limit movement
• Anchor the cords to the wall or floor

“Young children can quickly and silently become strangled on pull cords, continuous loop cords, inner cords or any other accessible cords on window coverings,” CPSC Chairman Alex Hoehn-Saric in a previous news release. “Cordless window blinds, shades, draperies and other window coverings are the safest option.”