SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - A 16-month-old boy suffered multiple skull fractures when he was killed by a set of four-fold doors at a Scottsdale fire station, according to documents obtained by 12 News.
A death investigation report found that Joey Reiss, the nephew of a firefighter at Station 601, was killed on February 3 when the station’s accordion-style doors crushed his head as they opened.
“What’s going on?” a responding officer asks a firefighter on body camera video. “A child’s in bad shape,” the firefighter responds.
12 News has been fighting the city for months to release public records related to the incident, attempting to learn details behind what happened, if the incident could have been prevented, and if a danger still exists. The materials were provided to 12 News only after attorneys for the television station sent the city a demand letter.
A brief statement from city officials had previously only stated that the child was killed by “apparatus doors," but did not share details.
The body camera video included interviews with multiple firefighters on-scene, and at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where Reiss was pronounced brain-dead the following day.
“I think he was just sitting there. And then the doors closed automatically,” Reiss’ aunt told police.
“We heard screams, came inside, saw what was going on. Our captain was doing compressions,” said a firefighter who was interviewed at the hospital.
Reiss, who was just steps away from his mother when he was injured, was treated at the scene and rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced brain-dead exactly 24 hours later.
He was among a group of children touring the station that day, a situation that at least one firefighter seemed to question.
“There were so many kids and moms and stuff. It was like, man, there’s a lot of kids here …You don’t ever want to be like, ‘Hey you need to send your families home, ya know what I mean,’” the firefighter said.
Much of the video obtained by 12 News was blurred and muted, but did not seem to indicate any wrongdoing or safety equipment malfunctions.
The Reiss family has hired an attorney to represent them in their son’s death.