Kansas man gets probation in octopus-in-throat case

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A southern Kansas man who admitted to endangering a child after his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son ended up with a small octopus lodged in his throat was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation.

Matthew Gallagher, 37, also received a suspended one-year jail term after pleading guilty to a reduced count of child endangerment, as well as charges of battery and interference with law enforcement. All are misdemeanours.

The boy’s 21-year-old mother told investigators she returned to her Wichita home from work April 5 to find Gallagher performing CPR on her son, whom court records identified only as “C.F.” The boy later vomited at a hospital, and medical staff suctioned an octopus measuring more than 2 inches long from his airway.

Wichita police detective Kevin Brown wrote in an affidavit that Gallagher initially told him he had fed the boy chicken for dinner while Gallagher dined on sushi and small octopuses.

Gallagher insisted he had not given the boy any of the cephalopods and wasn’t aware of how the child managed to get one wedged in his throat — a version he also told to a firefighter who responded, Brown wrote.

Gallagher said he later heard the boy make gurgling sounds and his lips turned blue as he struggled to breathe, so Gallagher gave the child CPR “the best he could,” Brown wrote.

Gallagher later admitted to Brown that he had fed octopus to the boy.

Gallagher originally was charged with aggravated child endangerment, which alleged he “unlawfully and recklessly” caused or allowed a situation that put the boy’s “life, body or health” at risk.