Toy Helicopters Recalled Following Laceration Injuries | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

Toy helicopters produced by a Texas (TX) company have been recalled because their rotor blades can detach while they are spinning, posing a laceration hazard, the Sacramento Bee, reported.  The Military Copters that are sold in Rite Aid stores and manufactured by Excite USA of Carrollton, TX, were recalled after three incidents, two of them laceration injuries.
 
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said purchasers of the helicopters that cost $7 should immediately take them away from children and return the product to any Rite Aid store for a full refund. About 24,000 have been recalled.
 
In May higher-end remote controlled helicopters imported by Horizon Hobby of Illinois (IL) were recalled after the company received 312 reports of the rotor blades releasing from the rotor head, including 34 reports of a blade striking a user, resulting in 12 laceration injuries. These toys retailed for $180 to $220.
 
Our Virginia (VA) personal injury attorneys have reported on far too many toys out there that have injured children. As, in the case of these helicopters, many of them have been manufactured in China.  In 2010, my colleague Rick Shapiro wrote about a major recall after Newport News, VA, importer Fun Stuff Inc. recalled tens of thousands of infant and toddler toys because these Chinese-made rubber toys could snap if they were overstretched and pose a choking hazard to children.
 
Tragically these toys can kill and there have been instances in which children have died in the United States from toys manufactured in China.  Last year Family Dollar Stores, a company based in Charlotte, North Carolina (NC), voluntarily recalled about 1.8 million toy dart gun sets. Two children were killed by the toys, according to media reports, after choking on the soft Chinese manufactured toy darts.
 
Our VA attorneys reported on how 18 children died in toy related events in 2007.  We applaud the swift action of the importers and the CPSC, in this latest recall.
 
DM