KANSAS CITY (AP) — A 10-year-old Missouri boy is recovering after he was attacked by insects and tumbled from a tree, landing on a meat skewer that penetrated his skull from his face to the back of his head.

But miraculously, that’s where Xavier Cunningham’s bad luck ended. The skewer had completely missed Xavier’s eye, brain, spinal cord and major blood vessels, The Kansas City Star reports.

Xavier’s harrowing experience began Saturday afternoon when yellow jackets attacked him in a tree house at his home in Harrisonville, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Kansas City. He fell to the ground and his mother, Gabrielle Miller, ran down the stairs when she heard screaming. His skull was pierced from front-to-back with half a foot of skewer still sticking out of his face.

Miller tried to reassure her son, who told her “I’m dying, Mom” as they rushed to the hospital. He eventually was transferred to the University of Kansas Hospital, where endovascular neurosurgery director Koji Ebersole evaluated the wound.

“You couldn’t draw it up any better,” Ebersole said. “It was one in a million for it to pass 5 or 6 inches through the front of the face to the back and not have hit these things.”

There was no active bleeding, allowing the hospital time to get personnel in place for a removal surgery on Sunday morning that was complicated by the fact that the skewer wasn’t round. Because it was square, with sharp edges, it would have to come out perfectly straight. Twisting it could cause additional severe injury.

“Miraculous” would be an appropriate word to describe what happened, Ebersole said.

Doctors think Xavier could recover completely.

“I have not seen anything passed to that depth in a situation that was survivable, let alone one where we think the recovery will be near complete if not complete,” he s

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KANSAS CITY— (AP) — A 10-year-old boy is recovering after he tumbled from a tree house and was impaled through the skull by a meat skewer.

Xavier Cunningham, of Harrisonville, Missouri, landed on the skewer Saturday afternoon while trying to escape from a group of attacking yellow jacket insects. His mother, Gabrielle Miller, says she went running when she heard screaming. The skewer had pierced her son’s face, penetrating his skull all the way to the back of his head.

The University of Kansas Health System’s endovascular neurosurgery director, Koji Ebersole, says, “You couldn’t draw it up any better.” The skewer spared Xavier’s eye, brain and spinal cord and missed major blood vessels.

Doctors were able to remover the skewer Sunday and believe Xavier could recover completely.

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas chiropractor already facing two sexual battery charges is now charged with rape involving an underage female.

The Lyon County Attorney’s office charged Eric Hawkins of Emporia on Monday with raping a patient who was 15 or 16 at the time of the incident. Court documents allege the assault occurred between October 1 and November 30, 2015.

Hawkins was charged in August with two counts of sexual battery involving a 22-year-old and a 32-year-old patient. He is scheduled to appear in court on those charges Thursday.

Hawkins chiropractor’s license was suspended in July pending the outcome of the court cases.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Zoo staff and many others are mourning the loss of an amazing animal.

Early Monday, the 58-year-old Asian elephant Sunda woke up at the Topeka zoo and was unable to stand, according to the zoo’s Facebook page.

Zoo staff moved the other elephants around to give Sunda some extra space and to give staff some space if needed to help but even though she was trying, Sunda was unable to get her legs under her to get up.

Zoo staff made unsuccessful attempts to lift her with airbags. At 9:30 a.m., a team of tactical rescue firefighters from the Topeka Fire Department arrived and worked to put together ropes and pulleys in a manner that allowed us to lift her up.

Once lifted, she was able to get her feet under her and support her own weight. She stood for a few minutes and then started eating hay and moved into another room to get treats from her keepers, almost as if nothing had happened.

Laying down for a nap and not being able to get back up without assistance is something that sometimes happens with older elephants. 

On Wednesday, Sunda was unable to get up again and zoo staff made the difficult decision to euthanize her.

As zoo staff wrote on social media, “after 52-years in Topeka, she was indeed one of the most magnificent animals any of us have ever had the pleasure of knowing. We were hopeful that we might have had more time with her but her last days were spent eating her favorite treats, enjoying beautiful weather, and surrounded by people and elephants who loved her.”

CLAY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the former director of the Clay Center, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce and USD 379 school board member on child sex allegations.

Sixty-year-old Andrew James Contreras was arrested in Tennessee on a Clay County District Court warrant that has been transferred to Kansas, according to the Davidson County, Tennessee Sheriff’s department.

Contreras remained jailed Tuesday in Clay County on a $35,000 bond for two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, according to the sheriff’s department.

In 2008, Contreras  arrived in Clay Center from San Antonio, Texas. In addition to a couple of years with the chamber of commerce, he also was a member of the USD 379 school board. He resigned from the board in August 2017.

He has not made a first court appearance, according to the sheriff’s department.

SEWARD COUNTY — A Kansas woman reported missing in July is out of jail, her alleged partner in crime is still in custody following a weekend arrest.

Charles Abdnor, 26, is being held for fraud, aggragravated assault against a public servant, evading arrest, unauthorized use of vehicles and three fugitive charges, according to the Potter County Texas Sheriff’s Department.

Abdnor is also wanted on a Seward County warrant in connection with burglary and arson, according to Liberal Police Captain Robert Rogers.

Abdnor was with 24-year-old Shaila Schlenz in Amarillo, Texas.  She was first reported missing on July 5, according to officials in Seward County.  Both were arrested after found driving a stolen car.

Just after 7p.m. Saturday, police responded  to the 1600 block of East Amarillo Boulevard where they found Schlenz and Abdnor who both gave fake names to the officers, according to a media release. Police say the suspects were in a car that had been stolen in Kansas.
When police tried to remove Abdnor from the car, he accelerated the car with one of the officers holding onto him, dragging the officer and causing the officer to fall.

Schlenz and Abdnor drove away, and officers located the abandoned car at Southeast Third and Mirror and later found both of them in the 300 block of South Aldredge.

Schlenz has bonded out of jail. Abdnor remains in custody on a total bond of $67,000.