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3-year-old injured on New Port Richey daycare center playground

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BY KLINT LOWRY & LISA A. DAVIS

THE SUNCOAST NEWS & THE TAMPA TRIBUNE

Published: August 22, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - For a while on Thursday, it looked like the kind of scene that haunts the nightmares of parents and childcare workers alike was coming true, as a 3-year-old girl was airlifted to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg after the toddler's preschool teacher found her unconscious on the playground, a tetherball rope wrapped around her neck.

As of late Thursday afternoon, it appeared the worst would not come to pass; Pasco Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Doll reported the girl, whose name was not being released, was in stable condition and breathing on her own at the hospital.

Pasco Fire Rescue paramedics responded to a call at 10:35 a.m. to Footprints Preschool and Child Care Thursday morning.

A classmate had spotted the girl in trouble and told the teacher, who immediately removed the rope and began administering CPR. When paramedics arrived, they took over, but the girl did not regain consciousness at the scene.

The center was put on lockdown until about 3:30 p.m., with yellow crime scene tape and deputies blocking the entrance as Sheriff's Office investigators tried to piece together what happened.

Forensic technicians took measurements and photos of the tetherball pole and surrounding area. There was no ball attached to the rope at the time of the incident, Doll said, but it was not immediately clear why there was no ball or how the rope came to be wrapped around the girl's neck.

Part of the investigation included a background check on the center, which has also has a location in Hudson.

"We did not have any major concern with them," said Terry Field, a spokesman for the Department of Children, which oversees daycare licensing. He said Footprints has a clean record in recent years. In March, an inspection only turned up two areas of noncompliance, and they of a clerical nature. The playground passed inspection.

News Channel 8 Reporter Peter Bernard contributed to this report. Reporter Klint Lowry can be reached at (727) 815-1067. Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.

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