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2-Year-Old In Coma After Playground Accident

Katy Hennig / News Channel 8

The playground was closed to the public Sunday night.

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Staff Report

Published: December 9, 2007

Updated: 12/10/2007 01:04 pm

PALMETTO - A 2-year-old girl who was seriously injured when a swing set collapsed on her Sunday is in a coma, according to a relative.

Lexi Antorino, of Palmetto, was taken by helicopter to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg with a broken neck, broken back and fractured skull, said Joanna Janney, 14, the cousin of Lexi's mother.

Joanna was babysitting Lexi for the child's parents, Sarah Parkinson and Nicholas Antorino.

Lexi was playing on a swing set at Palmetto Point Civic Association Park, in the 600 block of 43rd Street Boulevard West, when the accident happened about 12:30 p.m. Sunday. She was pinned under the metal structure.

"She didn't respond to me," said Richard Fowler, a neighbor who tried to help Lexi. "I opened up her airways and waited for the EMT to arrive."

Two other children were on the swing set when it collapsed, but they were not injured.

Authorities say the swing set may not have been properly anchored.

Information from the Sarasota Herald Tribune was used in this story.

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