Hellobee Boards

I saw the security camera footage. The kid was obviously not being supervised and running around (like a normal 5 year old boy!)...but it’s my understanding that this was a community center? That happened to have some museum pieces on temporary display. I feel like that is TOTALLY different than visiting a museum. I also don’t feel like the piece was protected at all.

I think that the parents should have supervised him better, the venue should have protected it better, and this is what insurance is for.

ETA: the video footage looked like he *barely* touched it and the statue fell on top of him. So I feel like 1) it should have been secured better and 2) that could make the venue liable (what if it had injured the child?)

I saw this and I'm still not sure how I feel. The cultural center does have insurance, but I believe the insurance company does not want to pay and is saying the parents are responsible for it. From the articles and you can kind of see it on the video, the kid was trying to *hug* the statue... he wasn't just touching it or poking at it lightly. On the one hand, I do agree that they should have blocked it off better given that it seemed to be a high movement area lobby, but it seems they weren't intending on having a lot of children in the area. But he was also unsupervised for quite some time in the video, and I feel like at 5 years old, could/should know better.

Yeah, I think it's absurd that a community center would have such an expensive piece of artwork just out there, not properly secured (by their own admission). We were at an event at a local community center this weekend, and there were kids running all over the place! I mean that's what it's for... As a parent, I'm a lot more on top of my kid at somewhere that I KNOW will have expensive stuff, like an actual museum, vs. a place that's supposed to be for families and kids.

ETA: I'll also add that the community center should be thankful that statue didn't end up falling on a kid and injuring them. I think we'd be discussing an entirely different scenario if that had happened...

@alphagam84: @starchild: @PurplePumps: @bees_knees: in regards to supervision, there is only 8 seconds of camera footage before the statue falls over.

Does my child get away from me sometimes for 8 seconds or more? Yes. Do I "not watch" him for 8-10 seconds of being busy with his sister or another adult talking to me or trying to grab something in my bag? Yes. Does my child sometimes run into other rooms to explore, and do I let him, at a community center? Yes. Do I sometimes not scout out and test every item within a location to see if it is child-safe? Yes.

A $132,000 glass sculpture should be more secured, hands down.

That much money is more than 5x what I take home in a year. That money is 3-4x our yearly living expenses, aka what we spend in a year. Soooo, no.

Ugh. My worst nightmare. I have a really high energy 3 year old who could easily do something like this in the time it takes me to bend down and grab something out of the stroller.

I think what bothers me here, is that this child's pretty innocent mistake could bankrupt this family. $132,000 is a LOT of money. This is an insurance carrier basically trying to get out of paying a claim for their insured by bankrupting a family. There has to be middle ground here.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: The local paper said they were both around the corner saying good by to the father of the bride. Their 4 kids were with them when they started talking and then at least the 2 in the footage wandered off.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/parents-face-132000-claim-kid-knocks-sculpture/story?id=55927437

This article says they were just out of frame saying goodbyes at the wedding reception. In which case I can totally see something like this happening to me (and I have a seriously well behaved 4 year old!)

It also says that the artist who created it put the value at $132,000 and said “It’s beyond my capabilities and desires to rebuild it,”

At the risk of sounding ignorant (bc I know there are some Artist Bees here!), who decides the art’s value? Who decides if it is able to be repaired? I think the “desires to rebuild it” strikes me the wrong way? I dunno.

@MaryM: I agree. There were so many factors at play here. And accidents happen!

@bees_knees: @MaryM: Agree. The artist is creating value. "I want to be reimbursed for the amount of time that I spent on it and for what I think it is worth," he said. Umm no, I'd need an actual art valuation before someone sent me a bill for $132,000. Also, I would never put my art somewhere where it was not properly insured. I'm not diminishing his work, I actually think it was pretty cool but $132,000.... what is his hourly rate? How long did it take to create?

Not to mention, this building has an actual daycare in it. Like, it's not unfathomable that a child could get to it.