Twelve-year-old Yakim McDaniels was crushed to death by an electric roll-up parking lot gate in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sunday evening.

Yakim was playing with five other children when the 20-foot iron gate rose, first trapping his arm, police and witnesses said, the (New York)Daily News reported.

"It's a game. Kids are always on that gate," said neighbor Anthony Figueroa. "They play chicken to see who can hang on the longest."

The game turned deadly around 4:30 p.m., when one of the boys activated the gate's motion sensor. Yakim stayed on while the two others who were also clinging to the gate hopped off, a police source said, the newspaper reports.

"He was screaming and screaming and he got caught up on the top of the gate," said witness Reinaldo Blandon, 31. "From his head to the back of his shoulders went under, then he stopped yelling."

FDNY emergency workers arrived at the scene and were forced to cut through the gate to remove Yakim, The Huffington Post reports.

Police say Yakim suffered severe head trauma and was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, MSNBC reports.

Neighborhood residents are outraged over the devastating accident and are demanding safer, designated areas in which children in the community can play.

The gate is equipped with sensors designed to prevent it from coming down on top of pedestrians, but not to prevent it from rising, said Penny Wisneski, president of Reliant Realty, the agency that manages complex, according to the Daily News.