Child Injured in Fall at AAC

Story by Jim Ryan, WBAP/KLIF 24/7 News. Photo: Victoria Albrecht, WBAP/KLIF

DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF 24/7 NEWS) – A Wednesday night performance of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus at the American Airlines Center was interrupted by the screams of a child who had fallen from a second-level row of seats to the plaza level below.

“We saw people looking behind us; we actually thought it was part of the circus,” said Andrew Cooper, who was sitting in the next section over. “That was when we started hearing screams,” he said.

The girl family members were reportedly leaving their seats on the front row of the 200 level when the accident happened. Cooper estimates the fall at 20-25 feet.

Paramedics who were already inside the AAC rushed to help the child. Some witnesses said she wasn’t moving as CPR was begun, but that she was screaming again as she was placed in an ambulance and taken to nearby Children’s Medical Center.

Privacy regulations prevented the release of the girl’s condition. Managers at American Airlines Center issued a statement on Thursday: “Our thoughts and prayers are with a two-year-old child who was injured in a fall during a performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.”