Wall collapse crushes boy

MARION TWP. - A 19-month-old-boy died Friday after concrete from a retaining wall crumbled and fell on the boy, the Livingston County sheriff said.

Sheriff Bob Bezotte said the boy and his 5-year-old sibling were playing on top of an underground cellar that sits on a small slope at the family's home in the 5000 block of Dutcher Road near Coon Lake Road in rural western Livingston County at around 2:10 p.m. Friday. The boys' parents were in the home, he said.

"Over time, gravity and the elements slowly forced the earth to move down the slope," Bezotte explained. "While the 5-year-old was playing on top and the 19-month-old was below, the wall caved in."

The wall crushed the 19-month-old boy's head, Bezotte said.

The boy was transported to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, where doctors worked for hours trying to revive the child, Bezotte said. The boy died at around 4:30 p.m., the sheriff said.

"It was a horrible accident," the sheriff added.

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Wall collapse crushes boy