Cop Hurt After Bombing Down a Slide

Video of Boston police officer has gone viral
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 2, 2023 8:56 AM CDT

No one knows how or why it happened, but we at least know the what, where, and a little bit of the who. A Boston cop was recorded tumbling down a children's slide in front of City Hall, and the video has now gone viral. In the footage, someone is recording at the bottom of the long, high slide, which is partially enclosed in a metal chute, when a "rumbling clanging noise" can be heard coming from further up the slide, per WBZ. Suddenly, a police officer dressed in full uniform rockets out of the chute, on his stomach and with his feet first.

The cop bounces off the sides of the slide, then shoots off the end, landing on his face and yelling an expletive. A couple of items, including what appear to be a pair of handcuffs, also fall off his body in the process. Per WBZ, witnesses say other police officers were at the scene filming the incident. The video, which first emerged on TikTok, has since amassed 2.8 million views.

There's signage at the City Hall playground that indicates it's for kids ages 2 to 12, per Boston 25. "I don't know what the circumstances were or what happened," Mayor Michelle Wu says. "But, I will definitely check in and make sure the officer is OK. If it looks like that there needs to more signage [indicating] that this is for children or something, we can do that, too."

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The Boston PD confirms the officer was hurt, but it added he was treated using his own insurance, and that he hadn't missed work due to a line-of-duty injury. The department also says he won't be disciplined. Still, WBZ notes there are "other questions about the appropriateness [of] the officer, gun belt and all, going down a children's slide in public." The outlet says when it posed this to the police department, "they said they had no comment." (More Boston stories.)

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