NAIL TRAP LEFT IN PARK

Girl steps into covered hole

A Windsor dad is outraged after his nine-year-old daughter stepped on a nail-filled board concealed in a hole at a Riverside Park. On Sunday around noon, Dennis Godfrey and his two daughters, Lauren, nine, and Grace, 11, were kicking a soccer ball around Realtor Park when Lauren ran toward the brush at one end of the park to retrieve the ball. Suddenly, Lauren screamed. Godfrey thought his daughter got scratched by a tree branch, he didn’t expect to see a board with eight 2 1/2 inch nails sticking out of her foot. The board was at the bottom of a one-footdeep hole which had been camouflaged with sticks, leaves and grass. “At first it was disbelief and I’m thinking how did you just step on the board,” he said. “But then I saw the hole and it changed to anger and the fact that someone intentionally planted this to hurt someone.” Luckily for Lauren, who was wearing running shoes, just one of the nails slightly punctured her big toe.

“I flicked off the board and took off my shoe and there was blood in my sock,” Lauren said. “I was like ‘Why would someone do this?’” Godfrey said the park is always very busy with people playing football, baseball, rugby and lacrosse. The park has also been undergoing an update with a new splash pad and asphalt trail around its perimeter. “After the shock wore off, I realized we are going to have to be more vigilant and wary of places where our kids play,” he said. “We are going to have to look around and just watch for suspicious people doing things they shouldn’t be doing. We just have to be more aware.” Windsor Police Sgt. Steve Betteridge confirmed police were called to investigate. Police are encouraging anyone with any information to call 519-258-6111.