01 February 2024 , 23:36
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A three-year-old boy went a little too far in his love for a Hello Kitty claw prize machine - managing to somehow get stuck inside the appliance.
A daring toddler named Ethan then had to be rescued from a claw machine in a Queensland shopping centre after he crawled up the prize dispenser in search of toys.
The police shared a video of the carefree child surrounded by a mountain of Hello Kitty plushies as they tried to figure out how to get him out.
The police were called to Capalaba shopping centre at 7:15 pm on Sunday after reports that a child was stuck in the claw machine. The video shows Ethan, who was wearing a Power Rangers shirt, appearing unfazed and not in a hurry to be rescued.
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The police were called to Capalaba shopping centre at 7:15 pm on Sunday (Queensland Police /Twitter)Despite his adventurous spirit, Ethan followed the police's instructions, crawling over the toys to make way and covering his eyes as officers broke the glass to free him. After his rescue, Ethan was safely returned to his family, with an officer jokingly asking him, "you won a prize, which one do you want?"
Ethan's dad, Timothy Hopper, told reporters on Thursday that it was "unbelievable" how quickly his son got inside the claw machine after he had turned his back for a "split second' while out grocery shopping.
He said, "He loves claw machines ... As he always does, he opened up the flap to be an opportunist. Then, within a split second, he crawled into the machine, the door closed behind him. He stood up and realised what happened and he was king of the mountain."
Ethan's dad, Timothy, told reporters that it was "unbelievable" how quickly his son got in the machine (Queensland Police /Twitter)Hopper added that his son was having "the time of his life" inside the machine, where he stayed for about 10-15 minutes.
"I messaged my old man and he asked me how many two-dollar coins do we have. It was quite funny" the dad chuckles.
He continued to say, "I've got a bit of negative feedback over social media [but] kids are going to be kids, they can move in the blink of an eye." Hopper tells us that he rang up the claw machine company straight away, and they were baffled that a child could climb into the machine.
"They were asking me, 'How much money have I put in the machine? Is the money stuck in the machine?' My response was, 'The only thing stuck in the machine is my child, I would love to have him back.'"
Ethan's dad received some criticism online (Queensland Police /Twitter)Copper Stuart Power said that in his 11-year policing career, he'd never come across anything quite like this. "When we got the call there was a bit of a smile in the car. Both [of us] as fathers, thinking what our boys would do," Power shared.
The officer continued with a laugh: "Kids are kids. My boy's four and I'm surprised he hasn't done similar." A spokesperson from the Retail First Group said this sort of thing had never happened before at their 21 shopping centres in south-east Queensland.
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They told us the little one wasn't stuck in there for long, with security bods, police and emergency services all showing up quickly. "Obviously, they smashed the glass, so that machine has been removed," the rep explained.
"We are in discussions with the vendor of the claw machines just to look at measures that we can put in place to avoid this happening in the future." they added.