A Nebraska mother frantically called the police when she was unable to find her 3-year-old son inside their apartment.

Meanwhile, in a bowling alley across the street from that apartment, patrons were marveling at the sight of a little boy — surrounded by stuffed animals — sitting inside an arcade-style claw machine.

A child is safe after getting stuck inside a claw crane machine at a bowling alley. More: http://t.co/7UOSFouCEY pic.twitter.com/WBC8M3dEbo — KETV NewsWatch 7 (@KETV) April 15, 2014

According to a report from Omaha TV station KETV, bowling alley employees called the vendor who unlocked the machine and let the boy out.

The boy was unharmed, and quickly reunited with mom, according to the report.

The child even got to keep one of the stuffed animals.

But how’d he get into the machine in the first place? Nobody’s certain, but according to a BuzzFeed report, one bowling alley employee speculated the child might have climbed in through the machine’s prize door.


KETV reported that police said the mother would not face any charges because she immediately called police when she was unable to locate the boy.