Unthinkable Tragedy: Eastern Iowa 2-Year-Old Suffocates to Death

A truly heartbreaking story from eastern Iowa, where a 2-year-old died after suffocating while at a city park.

According to the Muscatine Police Department, they were called to Eversmeyer Park on Orange Street in Muscatine just a few minutes after 6 p.m. on Friday, September 16. The 911 caller had reported a child was unconscious and not breathing.

When paramedics arrived, CPR was already underway on the child, a boy. He was immediately taken to UnityPoint Health-Trinity Muscatine Hospital. Efforts to revive the boy continued, but unfortunately were unsuccessful. He was pronounced deceased at the hospital.

The Muscatine Police Department says "It has been determined that the child stopped breathing due to a foreign object that was obstructing the child's airway."

A woman, who says she is the grandmother of the boy that died, posted online that the child had choked on a balloon that had been left at the park by someone who had previously used the area.