ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996             TAG: 9610170053
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-5  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: RICHMOND 
SOURCE: Associated Press

CRIB INVESTIGATED AFTER TOT'S DEATH

After recalling portable cribs for safety reasons twice in the past three years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating a portable crib that collapsed and killed a Virginia toddler this week.

Nicholas Zehner, 18 months, died Tuesday when the folding crib that resembles a playpen collapsed on him at a home day-care center in Fairfax County.

The Manassas boy suffocated in the Century brand Zoo Friends Fold 'N Go Travel Yard, county police said Wednesday after an autopsy was conducted. The crib has a model number of 10-710ZFF.

The licensed day-care provider, Dana Bryan, 28, told police she had put the child down for a nap and discovered the accident when she checked on him.

The federal safety commission has received no other complaints about the Century brand but has recalled two models of portable cribs, which are similar in appearance with a metal frame covered with mesh. They sit on the floor like playpens.

``We haven't drawn any conclusions yet about how the death came about,'' said Rick Frost, a spokesman for the commission based in Maryland. ``We're going to try to make this as quick as possible.''

Century Products Co. also is investigating, said Linda Rice, the company's director of consumer relations.

``We call it a play yard. That's not for sleeping, that's for playing in,'' Rice said.

In 1993, Kolcraft Enterprises Inc. recalled 11,638 Playskool Travel-Lite portable cribs after the commission received reports that three infants had suffocated in the cribs.

Last year, Baby Trend Inc. of Pomona, Calif., recalled about 100,000 portable cribs sold under the names Home and Roam and Baby Express after two infants died in the cribs and two more were found not breathing but were revived.

The Baby Trend portable cribs now on the market have a new lock designed to prevent them from collapsing.

LENGTH: Short :   47 lines
KEYWORDS: FATALITY