The mother of a 3-year-old boy who fell into the Cincinnati Zoo’s gorilla exhibit last month will not face charges, the Hamilton County prosecutor has announced.
Michelle Gregg and her son were at the zoo May 28 when witnesses said he climbed over a 3-foot fence and went through thick bushes that separate visitors from the moat that surrounds the exhibit. Gregg had turned her attention to other children, and the boy fell into the shallow water about 15 feet below.
"I've never seen the attention given to a family-endangering case as this," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said. "If you don't believe a 3-year-old can scamper away that quickly, you've never had kids. They do just that."
Read more: Zoo chief stands by decision to shoot dead gorilla
A 17-year-old silverback gorilla, Harambe, climbed into the water, picked up the boy and eventually began dragging him around.
To ensure the boy’s safety, zoo officials eventually shot and killed the gorilla. The boy suffered “a concussion and a few scrapes,” Gregg said in a Facebook post.
“This was a tragic accident and a terrible loss for the zoo of their beloved gorilla. However, the zoo did the right thing when they took immediate action to save the life of a young child," Deters said. "A gorilla is a wild animal and, by definition, dangerous and unpredictable."
Last week, the Cincinnati Police Department completed its investigation into the incident without recommending charges.
The prosecutor's office said Cincinnati detectives made four investigatory visits to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, conducted four witness interviews, interviewed Gregg and reviewed cellphone footage of the incident.
"Our information is that the mother turned away for a few seconds to attend to another one of her young children and that is when the 3-year-old was able to climb into the gorilla enclosure," Deters said in a news release. "Any parent who is honest with himself or herself would have to understand how this could happen to even the most attentive parent."
Read more: Woman who recorded gorilla incident says toddler 'only had minutes left'
Gregg works as site manager of Little Blossoms Academy in Cincinnati, an early childhood education center.
"This is one more step in allowing us to put this tragic episode behind us and return to our normal family life," the the Gregg family said in a statement. "We extend thanks to all of those who have been praying for us and who have supported us through this trying ordeal and praise to God for His mercy and grace."
Read more: Incredible footage shows gorilla shot dead holding child's hand and comforting him
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is conducting an investigation regarding the safety and operation of the zoo. Hamilton County commissioners have said they will ask their appointees to the zoo board to conduct an investigation.
Gregg family spokeswoman Gail Myers said the family has no plans to pursue a lawsuit against the zoo.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here