Emergency crews successfully rescued a terrified and screaming 14-month-old boy who fell into a narrow pipe and got stuck around a dozen feet below ground in the yard of his Kansas home.
“There we go,” exclaimed Officer Ronnie Wagner of the Moundridge Police Department, clearly relieved as crews pulled the uninjured toddler from the hole on Sunday, as captured on body camera video.
A Rapid response
Officer Wagner arrived at the scene just 15 minutes after the incident was reported. The toddler was sobbing as his father encouraged him, shouting, “Hey buddy. We are going to get you up.”
In a phone interview on Thursday, Wagner recounted that the boy had been playing in the yard when he stepped on a lid covering the hole. The lid came off, causing him to tumble down the pipe while his mother watched in horror. At the scene, she held a younger baby in her arms, while the boy’s father comforted her and the older brother of the trapped toddler.
Despite the distressing situation, the toddler’s screams were a positive sign, indicating he was conscious and able to stand up, according to Wagner.
Creative rescue efforts
Initially, the toddler resisted the rescue crew’s attempts to loop a rope around him for extraction. “He took it off of him because he wasn’t sure what was going on,” Wagner explained, noting the boy was understandably “in distress and panicked.”
The rescue team then attempted to use a PVC pipe with an L-shaped bend to loop under the child. When this method failed, Wagner ingeniously transformed the pipe into a catch pole, typically used to snare wildlife.
“We call him MacGyver,” said Police Chief Jared Kaufman, comparing Wagner to the resourceful hero of the 1980s TV show known for his unconventional problem-solving skills.
Wagner modestly downplayed the compliment, stating it was the first time he had heard the moniker and emphasizing that it was a team effort to rescue the boy. The assistant fire chief reached into the hole to grab the toddler, while the EMS director manipulated the pipe.
A safe and sound outcome
Once the toddler was safely out of the hole, medics immediately began examining him. His mother, relieved and emotional, said, “Momma is here.”
When Wagner checked on the boy in the ambulance a few minutes later, he found the child snuggled in his mother’s arms. “Loving his mom up,” Wagner noted, reflecting on his own experiences as a father of two.
Remarkably, the boy only sustained a few bruises and did not require a trip to the hospital. Wagner suspects that the toddler may have slowed his descent by flailing his arms as he fell.
The purpose of the pipe remains uncertain, though it is suspected to have been connected to a sump pump at one point, used to divert excess rainwater away from the house.
“It was pretty wild,” Wagner said, summarizing the unexpected and dramatic rescue.
Moundridge, a town of about 2,000 residents, is located approximately 40 miles north of Wichita.
