Anisa Moktar was using a plastic zip tie as a necklace when the young Coon Rapids girl playfully placed it around her neck Tuesday night and tightened it, choking herself.
As of Wednesday evening, the 5-year-old was in critical condition and authorities feared she might not survive, according to the Anoka County sheriff’s office.
A zip tie, also called a cable tie, is a type of fastener commonly used for binding and organizing cables or electrical wires.
The one Anisa placed around her neck was left behind after her family installed a washer/dryer when they moved into their Coon Rapids home, said Paul Sommer, a sheriff’s office spokesman. The house is in the 700 block of 122nd Avenue N.W.
“It had been in the home for months, and the parents never gave it a thought,” Sommer said.
Police found Anisa unconscious and without a pulse about 8 p.m. Tuesday after receiving an emergency medical call from a family member, said Coon Rapids police Capt. John Hattstrom.
Sommer said a sibling saw what happened.
Anisa was resuscitated and taken by ambulance to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and then transferred to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, where she was listed in critical condition Wednesday evening.
“They are not optimistic about survival,” Sommer said.
Zip ties are anywhere from 2 inches to 3 feet long, according to a Home Depot store in Burnsville. The plastic ties have small serrated teeth that ratchet tight when one end is pulled through a loop on the other end.
If not used correctly, they can be dangerous, Hattstrom said.
“Basically, once you tighten these things…you can’t loosen them,” he said. “Once this got around her neck and was pulled tight enough, there is almost no way to escape without help from somebody else.”
The incident is being investigated as an accident, Sommer said.
Anisa’s family could not be reached for comment.
Sarah Horner can be reached at 651-228-5539. Follow her at twitter.com/hornsarah.
