$1 Million Award on Hold for Family of Boy Killed by Soccer Goal
By: Marissa Stevens
Updated: March 4, 2013
A $1 million award is now on hold for the family of a 9-year-old boy killed by an unanchored soccer goal.
"All we can do is make sure that we're doing the best we can and standing up for our son that's no longer with here and he can't stand up for himself," said Nathan Nelson.
The battle continues for a Bentonville family, after their son Jonathan was killed when an unanchored, homemade soccer goal fell on him during school recess in 2011. The goal did not meet consumer product safety guidelines.
"You can never truly understand the hell that we've been through."
After two years, Nathan and Sarah Nelson were awarded $1 million Monday night by the Legislative Joint Claims Committee.
"The legislators again found unaimously on Monday night that DHS was responsible and that the goal that killed our son was on the playground that they had certified," said Nelson.
But the decision created a false sense of closure, as the Joint Budget Committee is now reviewing their case.
"We don't understand why it's on hold."
The Nelson's believe the Arkansas Department of Human Services should have removed the homemade goal during safety inspections.
DHS disagrees stating, "The accident that killed Jonathan Nelson was a tragedy. At the time, he was in the custody of his local school district not any programs licensed or run by DHS nor in any area inspected or licensed by DHS."
Now, Jonathan's parents are keeping faith in the legislators and fighting to prevent tragedy from striking again.
"We're doing the best that we can to try to take the most negative thing that's ever happened to us in our lives, and make it as positive as possible no matter how hard it is."
Nathan hopes the General Assembly will pass their case through next week, but if that does not happen, he said they really do not have a clear timeline.
Amidst the tragedy, the Nelson family has been working hard to see some good come out of this. They have already passed Jonathan's Law which requires soccer goals to be anchored according to consumer safety guidelines, and they have created Jonathan's Play Safe Organization.
For more information on their story and details on the case, click here.
