After Burlingame boy’s death, mother recalls son killed by falling table decades earlier

While few details have been released following an area boy’s death last week after a table reportedly fell on him during an afterschool program, a South Bay mother said she reacted with “anguish” to the news, remembering how her 3-year-old died in a similar way in 1989.

“Don’t they ever learn? Are our children not that important?” Vivian Lindsay Herzog, 69, told this news organization Wednesday. “I just bawled all morning. I just cried all morning. And I’m still really sad. Seeing it happen to other children, first, brings up a lot of sadness and trauma for me. And then there’s anger.”

Herzog’s son, Calvin Lindsay, died a day after a table fell on him Aug. 21, 1989, at a former San Jose daycare renting space on a Union School District campus, according to a Mercury News report at the time.

The table struck Lindsay as he walked into the cafeteria and auditorium of the former building, according to an Aug. 23, 1989, Mercury News report. He was rushed to Valley Medical Center, where he was placed on life support, but later died in a coma.

On May 13, a table fell on 6-year-old Gavin Tsui during an afterschool program in the multipurpose room at McKinley Elementary School in Burlingame, his family told the San Francisco Chronicle and according to multiple reports. Tsui, a resident of Burlingame, was a first-grade student at Meadows Elementary School in the neighboring Millbrae Elementary School District.

Both deaths involved tables falling on young children, but key details of Tsui’s death remain unknown, including how the table fell, who was supervising the afterschool program, and whether the equipment had been secured.

The Burlingame School District has so far declined to release any additional information on Tsui’s death and has not identified which afterschool program he attended at McKinley.

Superintendent Marla Silversmith did not provide any updates about the incident when contacted by this news organization.

In a previous district email to families, Silversmith called Tsui’s death a “tragic accident,” and said the district temporarily closed all multipurpose rooms districtwide. The district is also “reviewing and evaluating procedures related to the use and rental of district facilities by third-party organizations,” she wrote.

Eric Rosoff, executive director of nonprofit organization Campus Safety Group, told this news organization that while details of Tsui’s death remain uncertain, school districts in California are required by state law to maintain comprehensive school safety plans designed to protect students from unsecured objects that could injure or kill them in the event of accidents or disasters.

Though such deaths are rare, Rosoff said he and his organization teach schools that heavy furniture, such as tables and bookcases, can still be hazardous to students and faculty if improperly secured, especially during an earthquake or some other event that could cause them to fall.

He said that while Tsui’s death could have been an accident with no “sinister intent,” he added that “most school districts have policies and practices in place to eliminate, or at least mitigate, those risks.” Rosoff said this could include regular inspections by designated staff, such as principals or custodians, of school facilities for hazards like unsecured tables.

In 1989, Herzog sued Union School District, an elementary and middle school district with campuses in San Jose and Los Gatos, and the daycare provider, Carolyn and Randall Mitchell, over the death of her son, according to Santa Clara County Superior Court records. The Mitchells operated a daycare service at the district’s former Ross Elementary School at 1718 Landover Lane, records show.

In her complaint, Herzog argued that a “school cafeteria fold-up table toppled over,” striking her son, “who died as a result of head injuries,” records show. She argued her son’s death was “proximately caused and contributed to by the negligence and carelessness” of the district and daycare provider, according to records.

The district denied responsibility for Lindsay’s death, but a court arbitrator disagreed, according to the case.

Arbitrator Louis Spitters wrote in court records that the district’s campus was “in a dangerous condition,” and that the tables at the school “posed a substantial risk of injury” to people at the school after being moved around.

The Union School District and daycare owners eventually agreed to pay Herzog $250,000, plus $14,033.63 in other damages, records show.

Herzog said she believes Tsui’s family should consider legal action.

“The district didn’t want to take responsibility,” Herzog said. “Nobody ever wants to take responsibility.”