www.nbc5.com/news/10655786/detail.htmlMother: Toy Police Belt Says Unlawful Word
Company Says Audio Clearly Not Using Profanity
A suburban couple who thought they had found the perfect Christmas gift for their little boy said the toy was not as perfect as it seemed.
Michelle Luciano said when the nightstick was removed from a toy electronic police set that she bought for a 3-year-old son, Dominic, she said the electronic voice on the speaker on the belt said a curse word.
"We hear it running around the house, and, there it is," Luciano said. "There's the word that we don't want to hear."
Luciano said she thought the gift would be good for her son, as he wanted to be like his father, who is a Westchester Police officer.
Dominic's brother, Daniel, has the soldier version of the toy, which Luciano said did not have any problems, NBC5's Anita Padilla reported on Tuesday.
Dominic now wants to play with his brother's toy, since his mother won't allow Dominic to play with the police belt.
"It says a bad word," Daniel said.
Luciano said the situation would be fine if she could take away the nightstick portion, Padilla reported, but Dominic knows that the button produces the bad word. Luciano said when she did an Internet search, she discovered that she was not the first parent to voice concern about the toy.
"If they knew the toy was like this two months ago, why was it still on the shelf for us to buy?," Luciano said.
Jerry Gibson, the president of the toy company Tek Nek said the audio source used to make the voice chip clearly said, "Stop."
Gibson admitted to speaker distortion, but said, "We didn't make a toy with a curse word, nor would we ever make a toy with a curse word."
Of the 30,000 toys sold, the company said only four customers have complained. Padilla reported, however, that the company is reissuing the belt with the word removed. Tek Nek is also sending the family a new toy, complete with new audio and a new belt.