Boy gets stuck in vending machine

A SMALL American boy took to extreme measures to win a stuffed toy from a crane vending machine and climbed inside the machine.

Three-year-old James Manges managed to climb up the chute and inside one of the machines in Elkhart, Indiana, swinging around for an hour amid the plush toys he coveted before firefighters freed him.

James’s mother, Danielle Manges, said the pair had paid an early morning visit to a Wal-Mart store in the city because her son had been sick and was sleeping odd hours.

After she denied him money to play the vending-machine game, James threw a juice box and climbed into the machine while his mother was picking it up. “Within two seconds he had climbed through the hole, into the chute and pushed the door shut so we couldn’t get him out,” she said.

At first, Ms Manges thought it was funny: “He was playing with all the toys and hanging from the bar like a monkey.”

She even bought a disposable camera to take pictures, as other shoppers did.

But she soon became upset when Wal-Mart employees said they did not have a key to let James out.

Firefighters removed the back of the machine to free James - who went home empty-handed.

“He definitely didn’t get a toy after that,” Ms Manges added.