December 21, 2004
An Ohio couple is launching a crusade to alert school officials to the dangers of collapsible cafeteria tables, like the one that killed their six-year-old son last December.
Jim and Jennifer Bennett appeared at a news conference unveiling a proposed Ohio law aimed at averting similar accidents. State Sen. Tom Raga (R-Mason) said he was moved to sponsor the bill after meeting with the Bennetts, who he said were different from other grieving parents because they acted out their grief through advocacy.
Many cafeterias throughout the country still use these tables, Raga said.
Jarod Bennett was waiting for his mother to pick him up after school last Dec. 13 when an eight-ton cafeteria table tipped over and landed on him, crushing him to death.
Besides working to enact new laws to make school buildings and grounds safer, the Bennetts are contemplating a class-action lawsuit on behalf of children injured and killed by the tables. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned in 1989 that the tables could tip over.
The couple has also alerted school officials in more than 30 states of the risks presented by the tables.
