MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Missouri — A 12-year-old Missouri boy died while playing on his backyard swing Friday, according to a report on Fox2Now.com. Police said Ethan Ivinson was spinning on a homemade swing that was suspended by ropes from a high tree branch when he somehow got caught in the ropes and accidentally hanged himself.
“He was helping his dad do some chores in the backyard,” Maryland Heights Police Chief William Carson said. “He was planning to go to a school dance that evening and was doing extra chores so he could go to the dance.”
Ethan’s father, who had just left his son to go inside to make a phone call, and firefighters performed CPR on the child, but they could not save the seventh grader.
“It has been pretty devastating for the school,” Pattonville School District spokesperson Mickey Schoonover said. “From what I have heard he was a really sweet kid and everyone is very shaken up by what happened.”
Friends have established a GoFundMe page to help Ethan’s family cover funeral costs and other expenses.
“I am asking everybody to donate to pay for funeral expenses, counseling, or whatever they may need in this trying time,” a message on the page indicated. “This family is going through so much. The last thing they should do is pay for a funeral for there son, or worry about money.”
So far the page has raised more than $15,000 for the family.
