Collapse during Easter party sends 7 people to hospital

DURHAM -- A deck collapse at an Easter party Saturday sent seven people to the hospital and left more than a dozen other parents and children crying and shaking. Several children had just finished an Easter egg hunt at the home in the Woodcroft community in southern Durham when the deck snapped off the back of the house, witnesses said.

It was about 2:15 p.m. when rescue workers were called to 9 Brynhurst Court, where 11 people had been standing on a back deck as it dropped about 12 feet to the ground, said Andy Barringer, assistant chief of the Parkwood Fire Department.

The deck fell onto grass and a small concrete patio. No one standing below the deck was injured or trapped by the deck, Barringer said. Of the injured, six were adults who were taken to Duke Hospital's emergency room for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, Barringer said.

Most suffered back and neck injuries, and everyone was conscious when rescue workers arrived, he said.

One young man, who shivered as he took deep breaths, eased his way into an ambulance with a sling and bandages on his arm. An older man was carried on a stretcher to one of four ambulances on the scene, his head and neck supported by a thick, padded brace.

The owner of the house, Brian Maxson, stood in his yard as firefighters steadied the fallen deck, which ripped off the house in one large piece. Maxson put his hands on his face and sat on the grass, shaking his head as another man leaned over to talk to him. Tearful, he told reporters he couldn't talk about the incident.

Baskets of bright plastic eggs sat in the grass. A silver balloon that read "The Maxsons" floated in the driveway.

Almost an hour after the deck crashed, a child emerged from a neighbor's house and climbed into an ambulance to go to the hospital. The young girl, the seventh person to be taken to the hospital, initially told medics she felt OK but reconsidered, officials said.

It was unclear what caused the deck to fall, officials said. If there is an investigation, it will likely be initiated by the homeowner and performed by a private company or insurance inspector, since it occurred on private property, Barringer said.