Community Corner

Girl Rescued From Pipe Accident Appears at Township Meeting

With the drama of being wedged between two giant concrete pipes behind her, Maddie Quick of Chesterfield kicked off the township board of trustees meeting Monday night.

Before leading the Chesterfield Township Board of Trustees meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance Monday night, resident Maddie Quick made a pledge of her own.

When township Supervisor Michael Lovelock asked her to tell the audience what she will not do in an open field any more, she responded: "Play on tubes."

Playing on concrete tubes—also known as large circular drainage pipes—in an open field by her Heatherwoods subdivision off 24 Mile near Sass is what got the 10-year-old girl in serious trouble last month. 

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"I always told her, 'No, you can't play out there,'" said her father, Glenn Quick. Still, he said, "she went back there with some friends."

As one of her friends jumped on top of the pipes, Maddie went to help her from falling and wound up slipping between two pipes. Unable to move, she spent three hours stuck in 25-degree weather as emergency responders tried desperately to pry her free.

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"The Jaws of Life didn't work," Glenn Quick said, explaining even a backhoe was unable to remove his daughter. After other efforts, Joe Ballor Towing's industrial airbags created enough space for her to wiggle free, he said.

The early February incident is raising safety concerns over the pipes' presence on vacant land in close proximity to houses. Anchor Bay Schools partially owns the parcel. About half, or roughly 25, of the pipes recently were removed. There's some controversy over whether a developer or bank is responsible for the removal of the remaining pipes.

"I'm very pleased that things are moving the way that they are," Glenn Quick said of the pipes taken from the property.

On Monday night, Maddie appeared to be a normal, healthy girl. The only injury from the grueling incident was surface frostbite on her stomach, which she got as her coat slipped up and exposed her belly to the pipe when she first got wedged. She must keep the area covered to allow it to heal. So, the doctor's order is simple: No bikinis for six months—a prescription her dad has no complaints about.


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