ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A 3-year-old boy has died after falling into an underground grease collection tank behind an upstate New York fast-food restaurant. The boy was the son of a Tim Hortons employee who didn't have anyone to watch him.
Rochester Police Investigator Frank Camp says the boy fell through a plastic cover into the grease trap behind a Tim Hortons restaurant around 11 a.m. Monday. Witnesses pulled the unidentified child out and administered CPR.
Camp says the child was pronounced dead at Strong Memorial Hospital. He called the incident an "unspeakable tragedy."
Police and OSHA are looking into why the plastic lid on the tank behind the restaurant collapsed when the boy stepped on it, and why it was unsecured.
The plastic lid has been replaced with a metal lid, which experts say most grease traps already have. Restaurant grease traps are designed to keep used oil and grease out of sewer systems.
Sources say the mother will not be charged, and the boy's family will hold a vigil at the scene Tuesday night.
Alabama lawmakers passed legislation requiring more secure covers after a 3-year-old girl died in a 6-foot-deep grease trap in Auburn, Alabama in October 2017.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a 5-year-old girl was rescued after falling into a grease trap in March 2018.