Review board to look into fatal swing set accident

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A child fatality review board will convene early next week to look into the death of a Fisk kindergartner who was killed when an unfinished, wooden swing set collapsed on him.

Cobbie Bond, 7, son of Carl and Lana Bond and a kindergartner at Fisk Elementary School, died Sunday as the result of a head injury, according to Butler County Coroner Jim Akers.

Cobbie's cause and manner of death, which was "definitely an accident," were determined when an autopsy was done Monday, Akers said.

Required by law, Akers said, the child fatality review board is "not for determining guilt or innocence, [but] to determine if anything can be learned to help prevent further child deaths."

Akers said members of the board will include representatives from the Butler County Health Department and Coroner's Office and other agencies such as Division of Family Services, hospital and emergency medical services personnel and law enforcement officers.

"From what I understand, the two older boys were swinging and Cobbie was playing with a punching bag" built onto the swing set, Akers said.

Cobbie's older brothers, Akers said, heard the cross beam on the swing set crack.

"They yelled to run ... get out of the way," Akers said. "They jumped out of the swings, and [Cobbie] took off running straight away. ... The supporting legs, made out of 8-by-10 beams, fell and struck him, landing on top of him."

Emergency medical services personnel transported Cobbie to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 9:30 p.m.

The family, according to Akers, is new to the area and is in need of assistance in helping to cover funeral expenses for Cobbie.

Anyone wishing to help may do so by sending donations in care of White Sanders Funeral Home, P.O. Box 596, Fisk, Mo., 63940.