United States

Mom Credits β€˜Twin Bond' After Toddler Pushes Fallen Dresser Off Brother

Tipped furniture kills one American child every two weeks, according to the CPSC

A little boy from Utah is being hailed as a hero for pushing a fallen dresser off his twin brother. 

Both boys are OK, but furniture falling is a persistent threat to climbing children, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, which encourages parents of young children to secure furniture to the wall. 

"Not all children are that lucky. Tragically, one child dies every two weeks and a child is injured every 30 minutes when TVs or furniture tip over in the U.S.," CPSC Spokeswoman Patty Davis said in a statement.

The nanny-cam video, initially posted to YouTube on New Year's Eve, shows the boys playing on open dresser drawers before the whole piece of furniture tips over. As NBC affiliate KSL reported, Bowdy Shoff crawled out from underneath the dresser, but his brother, Brock, was pinned.

After a couple of attempts to free his brother, the 2-year-old was able to push it off Brock.

"They have that twin bond, and that's just what you do for your brother," mother Kayli Shoff said on MSNBC Tuesday, with her boys tagging along.

She has since secured the drawer to the wall, which the CPSC recommends for large furniture that childen may want to climb on.

The CPSC is investigating this incident, Davis said. She said it was miraculous that Bowdy was able to push the dresser off Brock. 

Shoff also took knobs off all the drawers and added latches to the bottom drawers, so the boys have a harder time scaling the dresser.

"I don't want this to happen to anyone else's child, because I know how I felt in the moment," Shoff said, when asked why she shared the video. "It's just not something that you think about every day."

Last year, Ikea issued a massive recall of 29 million dressers that were blamed in the deaths of six children and the injuries of three dozen more. It also offered wall anchor kits to any owners. 

The CPSC says securing furniture to a wall is quick and easy and saves lives.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said Tuesday that it was a miracle neither of the boys was hurt.

"Horrifying incidents, like the one appearing in this video, show why we need strong, enforceable stability standards for furniture that can harm children," he said in a statement, adding that he intends to reintroduce legislation in Congress to make safer furniture that won't tip over.

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