The city playground on the north end off Lakebottom Park reopened around noon today after workers inspected it for razor blades, which a parent reported finding on playground equipment this morning.
Police and city workers said the blades were taped to places children were likely to touch.
Columbus Police Officer Tricia Wolfley was working traffic patrol at the red light across the street from the playground about 9 a.m. when a woman with a 2-year-old boy came over and told the officer what she found, Wolfley said.
The officer began searching the playground and found nine blades. They were "boxcutter type blades," Wolfley said. "They were taped in places kids of all ages would grab."
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Blades were found taped to a slide, on a wheel children use to pull themselves off the ground and other pieces of playground equipment, said Tony Adams, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department.
No one was hurt.
""It's pretty sad that someone would do that with kids playing," Adams said.
Workers used yellow tape to cordon off the area at the northern end of the park and workers scanned it with metal detectors to make sure all the blades had been found. They also planned to search other parks and playgrounds in the city and alerted the school system.
Around 12:30 p.m., the Columbus Department of Public Health issued this statement:
"At this time public health has no reports of any injury caused by razor blades found at Weracoba/Lakebottom Park in Columbus. In the absence of injury there are no concerns for exposure to illness. If an adult or a parent has any concern that they or their child were cut by a razor blade while at the park they are encouraged to contact their health care provider."
All playgrounds and athletic equipment at Muscogee County Schools have also been checked as a safety precaution, according to the district's website.
Stay with ledger-enquirer.com for more on this developing story.
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