Girl, 4, strangled by jump rope at Sammamish playground
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SAMMAMISH, Wash. -- A 4-year-old girl died Tuesday evening when she accidentally strangled herself with a jump rope.
The girl, her twin brother and an adult, live-in caretaker were playing at the Samantha Smith Elementary School playground just before 7 p.m. when the accident happened, according to Cindi West of the King County Sheriff's Office.
The boy told deputies his sister had been playing with the jump rope around her neck. He told her to stop, but she didn't, West said.
The boy and the caretaker then walked away from the playground to pick berries. When they came back, they found the young girl face down on a slide with the rope wrapped tightly around her neck.
The girl was rushed to a Overlake Hospital, but she died soon after, West said.
West said the death appears to be accidental, but the county's major crimes unit will investigate.
The name of the girl who died has not been released.
Editor's Note: Police originally said the girl's age was 7 years old, but corrected the information to 4-years-old on Wednesday. They also updated that it was one adult caretaker with the children.
The girl, her twin brother and an adult, live-in caretaker were playing at the Samantha Smith Elementary School playground just before 7 p.m. when the accident happened, according to Cindi West of the King County Sheriff's Office.
The boy told deputies his sister had been playing with the jump rope around her neck. He told her to stop, but she didn't, West said.
The boy and the caretaker then walked away from the playground to pick berries. When they came back, they found the young girl face down on a slide with the rope wrapped tightly around her neck.
The girl was rushed to a Overlake Hospital, but she died soon after, West said.
West said the death appears to be accidental, but the county's major crimes unit will investigate.
The name of the girl who died has not been released.
Editor's Note: Police originally said the girl's age was 7 years old, but corrected the information to 4-years-old on Wednesday. They also updated that it was one adult caretaker with the children.
What doesn't make sense here is the caretaker claims to have walked away from the playground leaving a 4 yr old alone and walking away with her twin brother. All this when not one person was around. Who in their right mind would do this? I somehow don't buy the caretaker's story. I hope they don't let her walk so she can do this again to some other family.
What a tragedy!!!!  My heart goes out to the family!!!  It really does just take a minute, or seconds, for kids to get into serious/ life threatening situations.  Jump ropes are very dangerous, and I do not allow my children to play with them alone, or keep them in their possession when they are done playing.  They get put away for this very reason!
My heart goes out to the family of this little girl...what a terrible, horrible tragedy. I was driving north on 228th at 7 pm Tuesday evening when the fire truck responding to this call came up behind us. All cars except one pulled over to the right to let it pass. Despite the siren and horn blasting right behind this car, they did not pull over and blocked the lane, forcing the firetruck to drive over the barricade. Please, people...when an emergency vehicle is behind you, do your best  to get out of the way!! Seconds count!
Why would anyone leave a 4- year old alone in a playground?Â
 @cockrum.angela@gmail.com thats what i say and why if she had it around her neck didnt they take it from her before this happened????
Proof once again that it only takes a second for us to turn our backs for tragedy to happen to children. RIP to that sweet little girl. My prayers are with her family and that caretaker, who probably feels soooo guilty about this. No ones fault, just a tragic tragic accident
Both KIRO and King5 are reporting that the brother is 5 years old, but KOMO says he is a twin. At any rate, sad day for all involved.
I would investigate the hell out of this one. Something really smells about this story.
 @missyk Not really. It's a tragic accident, she probably had the rope around her neck, as the story says, went down the slide and the other end caught onto something. It's extremely sad, not everything is a conspiracy. As a parent, this gives me shivers. I can't even begin to imagine what that family is going to experience from now on.
 @Dragnipur  @missykÂ
 @Jerome Taperman  @missyk I can agree with that, no problem. But I have kids and know you cannot watch them at every moment, and the attempts to do so is really creating some sheltered kids that always feel like if they fall someone will catch them.  On the other hand, your statement about removing the jump rope from the girl's neck and possession was something I would definitely have suggested as well.
 @Dragnipur  @missyk Not a conspiracy, no. However, a responsible adult would NEVER leave a four-year-old alone and just walk away. Further, a responsible adult should have enough sense to take the rope away if the child refused to remove it from around her neck. Two oversights of common sense lead to the death of an innocent. She did not have a responsible adult with her.
Wow, the facts really changed in this story, originally she was 7 her brother was 5 and there were 2 caregivers.
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@CIAassassin At 4 years old, she doesn't need to be supervised 100 percent of the time. She should have simply taken the rope from her and allowed her to keep playing. Accidents happen, even if she watched her the whole time, it doesn't always prevent an accident.
 @CIAassassin I know.  I heard many horror stories from my mom and other moms.  The moment you take your eyes away from your children, horrible things can happen.
Tragic. Let's just hope the school doesn't react by banning jump ropes, like many have banned swings, because they are "dangerous."
 @RN1 Well, most schools don't allow jump ropes during recess, and anyway this happened before the school year has resumed, so the school wouldn't be accountable.
What a terrible tragedy. Thoughts going  out to the little girl and her family. :(
So very tragic. Â I feel sorry for her family and caretakers (the radio station I listen to in the morning reported one of the caretakers as being her mom).
Other news reports are saying the caretakers were the child's mother and a babysitter.
I am very sorry for this young girls family. I hope they can get through this. Just a reminder to parents/caretakers to please take out or cut off all loose strings in your childs hoodies and coats. These slides notoriously catch them in the cracks where they are butted up together and a tragic accident like this could easily happen within seconds.Â
I continue to miss the "thumbs down" option.
another tragedy that could have been prevented
this is the world we live in, force to trust morons with our kids...simply BS
No one is forced to trust "morons" with their kids. It is up to each family to decide who to hire as a caregiver for their children. Â
two caretakers and they both left a 7 year old alone ?
 @Clayton Bigsby Oh please!! When I was that childs age I would be blocks away from my home on my bike playing with other kids my age and all without any adult supervision. That was the norm back then and yet I never once heard of a child wrapping a jumpe rope around their neck and being able to pull it so tightly that they strangled themselves. There's something about this story that doesn't add up. Unless the rope got caught on something I don't see how it is possible for her to strangle herself. That being said the idea that you should have to monitor a 7 year old every single second of the day is ludicris
she was 4 and she probably had the jump rope around her neck and slid down the slide, then the other end of the rope got pinched inbetween something on the slide and pulled the rope tight
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@MargeGunderson @Petwlkr @Clayton Bigsby Absolutely PRICELESS that Marge condems Petwlkr for improper spelling, while spelling the word incorrectly herself. What's that old saying?....People in glass houses should not throw stones.
 @Kiara It's sad that we've gotten to a point where we blame the spelling correction tools for our spelling mistakes.
 @MargeGunderson Hi. Its Ludacris, not Ludicris. Only responding since you felt a need to reply to that person for being wrong.
 @MargeGunderson You can thank Auto-correct for that mistake. Bet hey, thanks for the snarky reply just the same.
Poor thing.
That's just really screwed up. I feel bad for all involved.
Something doesn't add up
@skulls98040 Yes...this seems odd. I know that school and the playground VERY well...and at that time of day that playground is usually full of kids and adults. It's very odd that no other child or adult didn't see the child in distress and called for help. It's sad either way this turns out. I don't think there is anything more terrible or frightening for a parent than the thought of losing or actually losing your child. Â
 @skulls98040 I agree.
Tragic! A little one lost and a lifetime of guilt for the caretakers and mourning for the brother. So sad! This is a parents worst nightmare of someone taking care of your children that isn't really paying attention to them. A 7-year-old is simply still too young to let play unsupervised.
Per other reports here, one of the 'caretakers' was the Mom.
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 JW?
Caretakers probably means pre-teen babysitters... that are having nightmares tonight (that will last the rest of their lives). Actually, there are probably a lot of people having nightmares tonight about this. I just might be one of them; it is just too sad.
Â
With 2 caretakers, you think one of them could maybe watch her while picking berries?
 @Zoso I'm thinking they are just a couple of kids that are only a little older than the children they were visiting the park with. Letting a 12 year old for example watch your 5 year old for a short time is something many parents have done. Relying on a 12 year old's judgement is the parent's call.
Absolutely heart-rending. Â My first son died on a rope swing in a similar manner. Â In his case, he had gone somewhere he wasn't supposed to go. Â You can't watch them all the time, but you'll spend the rest of your life playing "coulda-shoulda-woulda", and it won't make a da** bit of difference. Â My hearts go out to the family, especially to the girl's little brother. Â My daughter (my late son's sister) is carrying a lifetime of guilt that she doesn't deserve, for much the same reason.
 @magic_eye So sorry for your loss, I know the pain never goes away. Strength and positive thoughts for all of you, especially the sister who blames herself.Â
@magic_eye I am sorry for your loss, and what you say, is very true. You cannot watch them all the time. Unfortunately, it doesn't take much time for an accident to happen.
The two caretakers, will have to live with knowing that someone they were charged to take care of, died.Â
And the younger brother, who kept telling her to take the jump rope from around her neck.. poor guy..
My heart goes out to all involved.. the family, the caretakers... the emergency responders... It has to be difficult for everyone, because no one feels that a child should lose their life. They are supposed to learn from those mistakes.. not die from them..
Absolutely heart breaking.
This is an absolutely tragic accident that could have been prevented if one of the TWO caretakers would have kept an eye on the girl. The 5 YEAR OLD BOY had to tell the girl to quit playing with the jump rope around her neck? What the eff were the caretakers doing this whole time???
 @Tattooed_Angel I think many people are rushing to judge here. We need to know if the caretakers were adults or just slightly older kids. I'm imagining something like this- family lives close to the playground, neighborhood kids play together, older kids say they will watch out for the little ones because they want to pick berries near the playground anyway...hold your horses, people- what I wrote is very possible. Besides, nobody pays for two babysitters for two related children, so I really think that the word caretakers is being used to protect the identities of say a couple of 11 or 12 yr old girls y'all are jumping in to condemn.
@two loons Have you not seen the reports that the caretakers were the children's mom and a babysitter?