Madison firefighters say the curious child likely crawled into the prize machine through the retrieval window and was freed within minutes

By Chris Rickert
The Wisconsin State Journal

MADISON, Wis. — Madison firefighters found quite the prize Thursday when they responded to a call about a claw machine at a Far East Side ice cream shop.

There amid the stuffed animals was a 2- or 3-year-old child.

Fire Department spokesperson Cynthia Schuster said firefighters were called to Milin’s Ice Cream and Snacks, 2251 Independence Lane, just after 1 p.m. because the child had somehow gotten inside the machine and couldn’t get out. Firefighters speculate that the child crawled in through the prize-retrieval window, Schuster said.

A video of the incident posted to the social media site Reddit show firefighters arriving to find the unhappy child — who appeared to be a boy — sitting in the machine.

One firefighter asks a man off-screen if he has keys for the machine as the boy begins to cry. The man says he doesn’t.

“We’ll get you, bud,” one of the firefighters says to calm the child. “What’s your name, bud?”

As a firefighter worked to open the machine with a screwdriver-like tool, the child screamed more loudly and retreated toward the back of the machine.

It took about two minutes for the firefighters to unlock the machine’s door and lift the child to safety and then into the arms of his mother. The department said the machine was not damaged.

The incident was not referred to police, Schuster said. “This was believed to be just a curious toddler getting himself into a bit of a pickle!”

Police say the suspect took a Boulder Fire-Rescue engine minutes after his release and fled before being slowed down by stop sticks

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