Palatine

Fire Department Rescues Tot From Arcade-Style Claw Machine

A determined 3-year-old trapped inside a claw machine at a northwest suburban laundromat was rescued Thursday by firefighters--and he didn't leave empty-handed. 

Crews arrived at the laundry shop in the 1200 block of West Dundee Road to find the boy completely inside the arcade-style game. They took the top portion of the game apart to get the boy out. One firefighter went into the machine headfirst to pluck the boy out—a grand prize of sorts. 

The second firefighter handed the uninjured boy over to his mother.

“We have not had one of these before,” Cpt. Robert Klucek of the Palatine Fire Department said. “But we’re used to unusual calls and we adapt and overcome.”

He said it was a "feel-good call."

Asked if the child got the toy he went in after, Klucek smiled.

“Two toys, actually,” he said.

And they say those things are a ripoff. 

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