Couple looks for dresser legislation

A former Blue Springs man and his wife have been pierced by a heartache that most parents experience only in their nightmares.

 

Brett and Jenny Horn know all to well the sleepless nights and deep depression that continue to plague them three months after one of their 2-year-old triplets died. Charlie Horn was killed in November when a dresser fell onto him in the bedroom of the family’s home in Kansas City. There were no witnesses to the accident. Another of the couple’s triplets was asleep in the bedroom at the time of the accident.

 

The dresser apparently tipped over while Charlie was climbing on its drawers. Emergency personnel said the boy was already dead when they arrived on the scene.

 

Brett said the family never thought of securing the dresser because it stood only 30 inches high. The couple had secured to the wall other, taller pieces of furniture to prevent them from tipping. “It didn’t even cross our minds that it would tip or fall or harm anyone,” he said.

Brett described the tremendous grief.  “It’s been unbearable at times, and the family is just taking things one day at a time, still,” he said.

 

Especially challenging is that the couple is trying to cope with the loss while continuing to raise and console their other children, Charlie’s 2-year-old triplet siblings, Will and Brigit, and older brother, Jack, who’s now 5. “The one saving grace it’s good that we have three other children to occupy our time and keep us busy and continue with life,” he said. “At the same time, when we look at his brother and sister, we see Charlie. When I look at Jack, I see Charlie’s smile…I see certain aspects of Charlie in each one of his other siblings.”

 

But the couple isn’t stopping there. They are on a mission to ensure that the nightmare doesn’t become a reality for other families. The Horns are working with parents who’ve faced similar tragedies when a child was killed by falling furniture. The group has garnered Congressional support for a bill that would require mandatory warning labels on home furniture to prevent injury or death to small children. If passed, the bill would require labels on furniture and electronic devices, such as large televisions.

 

Congressman Sam Graves, R-6th, said he’s one of the bill’s co-sponsors because it’s such an important cause. “The important thing on something like this is to raise awareness” he said. “This will help raise awareness and prevent those types of horrible accidents from happening in the future.”

 

House Resolution 4266, also known as the Katie Elise & Meghan Agnes Act, is named for children who died in furniture tipping accidents. The bill sets mandates to be enforced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The legislation would require that furniture and electronic appliances “in jeopardy of tipping bear a warning label alerting consumers to the potential dangers of unsecured furniture,” according to a letter the parents drafted to members of the U.S. Congress. The parents have collected 10,000 signatures on a petition they plan to present to Congress during a trip to Washington, D.C. in May, said Brett, a 1989 graduate of Blue Springs High School. The Horns live in Kansas City.

 

Congressman Ike Skelton, D-4th, another co-sponsor of the bill, issued this written statement:

“I am hopeful that Congress will support this bill, which would help to reduce the number of tragic deaths that occur because products are not completely safe and reliable.”