Child Imitating Spider-Man Impaled On Tusk
5-Year-Old Falls Into Elephant Statue
POSTED: 3:41 pm EDT July 2,
2004
UPDATED: 3:47 pm EDT July 2,
2004
INVERNESS, Fla. -- A 5-year-old, who was imitating Spider-Man, crashed into a statue of an elephant, impaling himself on a tusk.Hunter Helton is recovering from injuries he received while jumping around his grandmother's Inverness, Fla. Home.Hunter had seen the Spider-Man 2 movie on Wednesday, and was imitating the super hero's moves when he fell into a heavy mahogany elephant his grandmother had purchased in Africa. Half the elephant's large ivory tusk broke off and got stuck in Hunter's body.
Hunter was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital on Thursday after emergency workers became concerned the ivory tusk might have hit a bone or an artery.X-rays showed the tusk hadn't punctured anything serious and a surgeon was able to remove the tusk without surgery, instead cleaning the area and stitching it closed.In order to help her son keep his composure during the ordeal, his mother, Nikki Mitchell, said she promised him whatever reward he wanted.Hunter asked for the Spider-Man 2 video."That was his motivation through it all," Mitchell said. "I'm like, whatever it takes."
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.









