As seen on TV: Deputies called to free Wellington teen trapped in hide-a-bed

Is it possible to get stuck in a hide-a-bed couch?

There’s a 12-year-old boy in Wellington who is now qualified to answer. On June 14, he and his 14-year-old sister were watching television in their Crittenton Lane home and became fascinated as they watched someone on a TV program get stuck in a recliner.

Wanting to verify the authenticity of what they were seeing, and with no recliner available, they decided to use a nearby hide-a-bed couch. The two unfolded the couch to reveal the bed, then the boy climbed on and his sister began to close him up. At the point where the boy decided he’d had enough and wanted out, his sister discovered that she wasn’t strong enough to release him. Instead, the mechanism moved to a more closed position, trapping him more tightly.

The sister then called 9-1-1 but before the Wellington fire department arrived on the scene, a Larimer County sheriff’s deputy arrived and freed the boy, who was uninjured. No police report was made and no names were given as those involved are juveniles.

The moral of the story, according to John Schulz, PIO for the Larimer County Sheriff’s office, goes something like this: “It’s not a good idea to test out at home something you’ve seen on TV.”