02.02.23

Kenmore Mom Who Tragically Lost Toddler in Furniture Tip-Over Visits DC to Mark Passage of New Safety Law

Crystal Ellis of Kenmore is a founding member of Parents Against Tip-overs; her son was killed when a dresser fell on him in 2014; The STURDY Act, which Cantwell shepherded through the Commerce Committee, requires furniture manufacturers to test for and meet mandatory stability standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Crystal Ellis of Kenmore, WA, visited with lawmakers who helped secure passage of legislation meant to reduce the number of children who suffer serious injury or are killed by unstable home furniture.

Ellis joined U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and other legislators instrumental in the passage of the new Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth (“STURDY”) Act. Sen. Cantwell helped push the Act through the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which she chairs.

Ellis spoke with Sen. Cantwell following the photo about her ongoing advocacy, and how she is helping other parents navigate consumer protection cases that harmed their children.

The STURDY Act changes the stability standard for storage unit manufacturers from voluntary to mandatory and requires furniture makers to test their clothing storage unit products for safety and stability before they are sold.

A 2022 report found that between 2000 and 2021, more than 460 U.S. children died from furniture tip-overs. The report also found that an estimated 18,000 Americans — nearly half of whom were children — went to emergency rooms across the U.S. in 2020 for injuries sustained when furniture, a TV, or another appliance tipped over and hurt them. 

Ellis lost her son, Camden, to such an accident in 2014, two days before his second birthday. Camden got out of his bed during the night and leaned into a drawer of his small 30-inch-high dresser, causing the dresser to tip onto him. He suffocated. Paramedics were able to restart Camden’s heart, but after spending four days in a coma in the hospital, he was taken off life support and died on Father’s Day, 2014.

After researching furniture tip-overs, and meeting with other parents who had suffered similar tragedies, Ellis founded Parents Against Tip-Overs in 2018. The group helped draft legislation to improve furniture safety standards.

In June 2019, Ellis testified at a House of Representatives hearing in support of the legislation. In a September 2020 op-ed in the Seattle Times, Ellis wrote that “The STURDY Act has stalled in the Senate.”

After Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced a bipartisan compromise bill, Sen. Cantwell stewarded the bill through the Committee, which passed the bill on May 11, 2022.  Sen. Cantwell pushed to include the STURDY Act in the Omnibus Appropriations Act, which became law on December 29, 2022.

Sen. Cantwell has been a staunch supporter of creating and enforcing rules that protect American children from unsafe products. She was among the authors of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, dramatically increasing the resources authorized for personnel and laboratory facilities, and strengthening the ability of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to keep dangerous toys and other children’s products from the hands and mouths of children twelve and under.

Since passage of this landmark legislation, the strengthened CPSC has recalled millions of defective and dangerous consumer products—many of which were meant to be used by children.

A photo package of Sen. Cantwell meeting with Crystal Ellis is available for use HERE.