Toddler Falls 50 Feet To Death From Luxury Suite During Lakers Game

LOS ANGELES — A police investigation was under way Monday in the death of a toddler who plunged from a third-level luxury box at Staples Center after a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game.

The fall occurred Sunday as 2-year-old Lucas Anthony Tang was taking pictures with his family in a skybox with a glass safety barrier that varies in height but is at least several feet high, police Officer Julie Sohn said.

“Somehow the child went over the edge of the section and fell to the seating below,” Sohn said.

Fire officials said boy fell 25 to 50 feet.

The case was being handled by the Police Department juvenile division, which investigates deaths of young children and other crimes involving juveniles.

“It’s procedural,” Sohn said of the probe involving Tang, declining to elaborate or discuss possible causes of the fall.

The Garden Grove boy suffered severe head trauma, Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott said. However, an official cause of death had not yet been determined.

Witnesses said the boy was moving his arms, legs and head when paramedics put him in an ambulance, said Michael Roth, vice president of communications for Staples Center and owner AEG. The child later died at a hospital.

“Our condolences and prayers go to the Tang family. We are working with the Los Angeles Police Department on the investigation of this tragedy,” Roth added in a short prepared statement.

Tang fell several minutes after the Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors. There was no immediate word on whether the death would affect the Staples schedule, which included a Monday night game between the Los Angeles Clippers and New Orleans Hornets.