Balloon Attacks Parade-Watchers; More Pix

Oh crap-- the NYC news sites are all reporting an 11:30am accident at the parade. Newsday has the most details:

A giant balloon at the Thanksgiving parade snagged a street light near Times Square and caused part of it to fall into the crowd, injuring at least one person, according to police and eyewitness accounts.
A reporter from WINS-AM radio on the scene of the accident said part of the damaged light fixture crashed to the ground on a traffic island after being hit by a balloon shaped like an M&M.

The station said the injured included a child who had traveled with a family from Albany, N.Y.

The accident occurred at 11:30 a.m. at West 43rd Street and Seventh Avenue, near the end of the procession.

Satans Laundromat has a nice set of pictures from a roof of a building at 41st and Broadway-- but none of the accident. We're also checking the Flickr "macysthanksgivingdayparade" and "macys" tags, but nothing yet. Developing...

Update: John snapped a picture of the accident scene and sent it in via Gothamist Contribute:

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jake Dobkin in News on November 24, 2005 1:01 PM

Comments [rss]

John

I posted some more pictures from this accident and also some related ones here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jzwinck/sets/1438509/

Mike

I saw the injured balloon, mostly deflated, turn off the parade route onto 42nd Street. No photos, alas.

Mihir

The Mr. Potato Head balloon nearly hit Al, Katie, and Matt at Herald Square.

Toby

4 did break in with a special report at about 12:30, an hour after it happened and after 2 and 7's Noon newscasts. 7 had actual video of the accident. 1010 WINS had actually interviewed the family involved before the accident happened.

It was mentioned on TV this morning or yesterday that a NYPD sergeant was to be with every balloon. This evening it was mentioned that in that part of Times Square they had streetlights that don't go out into the street due to the parade. Obviously that precaution didn't work.

Brightliner

What the hell is Macy's thinking? This was bound to happen again, judging by the ridiculously inadequate "safety guidelines" and training (a card like the escape instructions on an airline) they give to balloon handlers, as reported in the Times yesterday. I've been saying for years that they could seriously enhance safety by tying each balloon to a leading and trailing golf cart in addition to the handlers. Quiet, relatively small and unobtrusive, they wouldn't affect the parade and would be inexpensive to rent. It wouldn't be much different from other parades which have motorized floats. Relying on 40-60 people to manhandle the balloons is just plain reckless, even if it doesn't cause problems most years. You just can't take chances with people's safety like this.

pugsley

At the time of the incident channel 2 cut away to a live feed of some country band with a green dancing midget on an aircraft carrier, but reported on it when they returned. Channel 4 went into deep denial and pretended nothing was wrong throughout the whole show.