A trip to a Costco Wholesale store devastated a Washington family over the weekend. A 4-year-old girl reportedly choked to death in the food court at the Kennewick location in the Tri-Cities area early Sunday afternoon. The store was busy, and there were reportedly many witnesses.
The tragic incident brought attention to the importance of food safety and the dangers of choking. Witnesses said their hearts broke for the child and her mother, who frantically tried to get help for her struggling daughter.
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The store was packed with customers.
Emergency personnel received the call about a medical emergency at the Costco warehouse around 3:35 p.m. Sunday. Benton County Coroner Bill Leach said medics performed life-saving measures on the child, including removing the piece of food, but she did not survive, Tri-City Herald reported. The child was preparing to celebrate her fifth birthday.
Residents discussed what happened on social media.
Kymm Aldinger wrote about the incident on Facebook and shared that she has always been paranoid something like this would happen to her children and had learned life-saving techniques years ago.
“Awful!!!! I always stress about some of the things my 4 year old eats….including hotdogs/corn dogs. That’s just terrible,” someone commented.
“That poor family! I can’t even imagine their pain… thanks for sharing such an important reminder,” another person agreed.
Authorities aren’t sharing many details.
The child’s identity has not been released, nor have details about what she was choking on. Costco has not commented on the incident but did close early on Sunday. It was reportedly back open for business regular hours on Monday.
Witnesses say many people tried to help.
Because few details were released, some people have jumped to the conclusion that the child suffered without help. According to comments on a post on the NBC Right Now Facebook page, bystanders tried to help the child but could not dislodge the food.
"What you are missing is ALL of the details of the story, Which isn’t any business of anyone who wasn’t there. Clearly hundreds of people didn’t 'let' this happen. Obviously they tried everything imaginable to save her," someone wrote.
"you can do all the right things [and] it does not always work unfortunately. From the sounds of it many people did try to help," another person claimed.
"heimlich was done. She puked and went limp. EMTs worked on her for 30 minutes," another commenter wrote.
Others shared sympathy for the family.
"So heartbreaking. My thoughts and prayers go out to that little girls family and friends," one follower prayed.
"Omg! This is sooooo sad. My heart. praying for the family. also this is why I carry 3 choking devices with me everywhere I go. People get a Life Vac or a Dechoker or both!!! Best money you will ever spend."
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Choking is a serious concern.
Parents are often warned of the dangers of choking in young children. Elmwood Pediatrics reported that a child dies in the United States every five days from choking. Among those deaths, 75% occur in children younger than 3.
Experts urge parents to cut their children’s food into small pieces to discourage choking and to watch carefully for certain foods such as grapes, hot dogs, raw vegetables, hard candy, popcorn, nuts and seeds, peanut butter, marshmallows, and raisins.
“Always watch carefully as your child eats. Choking is silent and you won’t hear them," Elmwood Pediatrics' website noted. "If they get something stuck in their little throats and you don’t notice, it only takes four minutes for them to develop brain damage or worse.”
It is also highly recommended that parents learn CPR and the Heimlich maneuver.
