“It’s clear accidents happen and this was an accident,” Goodman told the Kansas City Star. “I don’t want to diminish the value of their art. But I can’t pay for that.” According to Goodman, she, her husband, and children were preparing to leave the wedding reception when one of her kiddos started playing with the statue around the corner. “Our kids were well-supervised and well-behaved. We were just standing down the hallway following the bride and groom out,” she said. The now viral footage shows her child, Troy, going up to the statue on more than one occasion before it toppled over. “He probably hugged it. Maybe my son hugged a torso because he’s a loving, sweet, nice boy who just graduated from preschool,” she said. “It needed to be cemented…They obviously didn’t secure it safely.” The piece of art, entitled Aphrodite di Kansas City, was on loan to the city. According to its artist, Bill Lyons, it took a few years to create the sculpture made of small pieces of glass and unfortunately, it can’t be repaired. “I want to be reimbursed for the amount of time that I spent on it and for what I think it is worth,” he said. But Goodman is placing blame on the community center and said that nobody even seemed to care whether or not Troy was okay after he was scraped from their mistake. “That type of artwork had absolutely no business being in that community center,” she told KMBC. “I cannot believe they allowed something so dangerous to be where kids play.” As of now, the family is reportedly leaving the matter up to her insurance company to dispute.
