Kansas parents face $132,000 bill after son breaks statue

June 16 (UPI) — Kansas parents may have to pick up a $132,000 tab after their son toppled a statue.

Surveillance video shows a boy hugging the sculpture inside the Tomahawk Ridge Community Center in Overland Park, Kan., before it fell seconds later, KSHB News reported.

The incident happened at a wedding reception last month, the boy’s mom, Sarah Goodman, said.

“We heard a bunch of commotion and I thought, ‘Whose yelling at my son?’” Goodman told KSHB News. “This glass mosaic torso is laying on the ground and someone is following me around demanding my personal information.”

Goodman and her husband received the $132,000 bill from the city of Overland Park’s insurance company a few days later.

“You’re responsible for the supervision of a minor child … your failure to monitor could be considered negligent,” ABC News reported the insurance letter said.

Goodman said she was offended by the term “negligent,” and further alleged in the KSHB News report that the city failed to take enough precaution.

“It’s in the main walkway,” Goodman said in referring to the statue. “Not a separate room. No plexiglass. Not protected. Not held down . . . There was no border around it. There wasn’t even a sign around it that said, ‘Do not touch.’”

Bill Lyons, the artist, told ABC News it took him about two years to create the sculpture, which was listed for sale at $132,000 and the damage is irreparable.

Goodman said she would contact her homeowner’s insurance company about paying for the damage.

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