With more than a foot of soft powder covering the ground, the sledding hill at Swan Pond Park may be irresistible, but that doesn’t mean sledding can’t be dangerous, and Riverside police are urging caution at the sledding hill in the wake of two injuries reported there on New Year’s Eve.
About 9:45 a.m. on Dec. 31, a Florida couple brought their 11-year-old daughter into the fire station on Pine Avenue so paramedics could treat a deep cut on her left leg, which she suffered in a crash on the hill.
Paramedics wrapped the cut, which was located directly above the knee, in bandages and transported her to Loyola University Medical Center for further treatment.
According to the police report filed after the incident, the girl’s father told police his daughter had gone down the hill and began veering to the right, crashing into the orange plastic safety fence.
The girl’s father reportedly remembered there was a fire station on Pine Avenue and drove her there.
A police officer subsequently checked the scene of the crash and saw that the orange safety fence had been broken, but stated that he could determine no other safety hazards. Police contacted the Department of Public Works and the Recreation Department about the incident and the sledding hill remained open.
On Jan. 4, paramedics were called to treat a 6-year-old Brookfield boy, who suffered a minor head injury in a sledding hill crash.
According to the boy’s father, his son was descending the hill about 1:30 p.m. when he veered left and struck a pole. The boy’s head was cut and paramedics transported him to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn for further treatment.
