Bounce House Rolls Onto Highway With 9-Year-Old Inside Who Survives

A bounce house, with a nine-year-old boy inside it, was blown away from a California house to a freeway located nearby, due to a strong gust of wind Saturday.

According to San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, after being swept away by the wind, the bounce house landed on the highway 395 in Adelanto, California, just after 3 p.m. local time (6 p.m. EDT). Moments after the bounce house rolled along the highway, the young child fell out of it onto the road, and the air-field party attraction came to a halt near the Barlett Avenue.

Apart from the sheriff’s department officials, a law enforcement helicopter, an ambulance as well as the fire department responded to the scene.

The 9-year-old boy sustained minor injuries and was able to talk to the first responders. He was rushed to the hospital nearby. His condition is unknown.

Sgt. Marc Bracco of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in the 18 years of his career in law enforcement, he had never seen a bounce house being blown away by the wind.

“The kid got lucky,” Bracco said, Los Angeles Times reported. “The winds have been strong in the high desert all weekend — but that area, the winds were going probably a little faster up there.”

The bounce house hit a sedan on the highway, which was heading south. The driver of the vehicle did not sustain any injuries, although he was shaken up by the incident. The highway was closed for two hours while the police recovered the kid and investigated the incident.

Bracco said he would always advise people to use stuff like concrete buckets or five-gallon water jugs to weigh down inflated, oversized toys in parties, as they were much more reliable than tying them to stakes hammered into the ground.

"Once those stakes rip out of the ground, that stuff starts moving," he said.

The 9-year-old’s family said they had secured the bounce house during a party they were having, with 30 guests, and had no idea how it became loose.

Witnesses of the incident said the gust of wind looked similar to a tornado. Many of them screamed and chased after the inflated house as it rolled along the highway, CBS Los Angeles reported.

The Victor Valley Sheriff's Department released the following press release regarding the incident:

“On Saturday, May 12, 2018, at 3:12 p.m. (local time, 6:42 p.m. EDT), deputies from the Victor Valley Sheriff’s Station responded to the area of Highway 395 and Bartlett Avenue in the city of Adelanto regarding a bounce house blowing away from a residence near the 18200 block of Delicious Avenue. Inside the bounce house was a 9-year-old child.

The child fell out of the bounce house after it had rolled onto Highway 395 and struck a vehicle that was traveling south on highway 395. The child was transported by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment; he was suffering from minor injuries. The driver of the vehicle had no injuries and was shook up from the ordeal.”