[AT] Tragic Tractor/Mower accident - Douglas, KS

[Mike Sloane]

We took a 4010 JD in on trade last year, and it had been used with a 
loader that had a set of pallet forks to be used for handling logs at a 
sawmill - there was no guard on the forks to keep logs from rolling back 
to the operator. The horrifying part was that there was a baby seat 
bolted to one of the flat topped fenders and a large dent in the cowling 
where a log had obviously rolled  back over the top of the forks. None 
of us at the dealership could imagine the stupidity of putting a baby in 
a seat like that.

And there was an article in today's Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger telling of a 
toddler who lost her toes on one foot when she fell from a riding lawn 
mower. No details, but I can imagine some fool driving his lawn tractor 
with a squirming toddler in his lap.

Mike

DBigdog wrote:

> I always hate to see something tragic like this.  It is so preventable.  But what really gripes me is that they are providing counseling to officers on the scene and contemplating charging the father.  There is no doubt he has suffered tremendously from his foolish act.  He, too, will need support and counseling as well as the officers.  I was an active EMT for 27 years and witnessed many foolish things that brought about the loss of young lives.  I don't know why people just can't see the stupidity of their acts sometimes.
> 
> Bigdog
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: G.Dombaugh 
>   To: Antique tractor email discussion group 
>   Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 1:35 PM
>   Subject: [AT] Tragic Tractor/Mower accident - Douglas, KS
> 
> 
> 
>   Accident in Douglas, KS......
>   This is why SAFETY should always be remembered no matter what you are doing round
>   tractors and equipment.   Tragic accident happened here Saturday evening.
>   Garrell
>   Wichita, KS
>   ___________________
>   Mower death disturbs officials
> 
>   BY TIM POTTER
> 
>   The Wichita Eagle
> 
> 
>   It's difficult enough for law enforcement and emergency workers to mentally process the death of 2-year-old Samantha Nichols of Douglass, Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy said Monday.
> 
>   On Saturday, Samantha died instantly after she fell off a tractor she was riding on with her father and was run over by a heavy-duty mower pulled by the tractor, Murphy said.
> 
>   Then, thinking of her father, Murphy said, "You can only imagine what this father is going through."
> 
>   Sheriff's investigators were still trying to learn exactly how the girl was situated on the tractor and how she fell.
> 
>   Her father, Christopher Nichols, was cutting weeds with a smaller, older Ford tractor pulling the mower, the sheriff said. The accident occurred about 8:20 p.m. Saturday near a barn at the family's home, on a shady street on the edge of town.
> 
>   The family has declined to comment to reporters.
> 
>   Authorities had initially said that Samantha was 13 months old, then corrected themselves Monday. She recently turned 2, Murphy said.
> 
>   With investigators still gathering facts, he said, it is too early to comment on whether any charge could be filed. An autopsy was to be conducted.
> 
>   Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield said Monday that there does not appear to be any intentional conduct on the part of the father. It appears to be an accident.
> 
>   "I understand, certainly, that he's suffering," she said of the father.
> 
>   A key legal question that has yet to be answered, Satterfield said, is whether there is evidence of any "extreme indifference" or recklessness that could possibly constitute a crime.
> 
>   It would be up to the Sheriff's Department to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that such a crime occurred.
> 
>   The deaths of children are always among the most disturbing cases. But in his nearly three decades in law enforcement, Murphy said, he has never encountered another accident like the one Saturday night.
> 
>   He told his deputies and other emergency workers who responded to the scene that they would be provided counseling, if they wanted it, to help them cope.
> 
>   "It is upsetting," Murphy said. "It affected all of us, including me."if ignored...   
> 
> 
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-- 
Mike Sloane
Allamuchy NJ
Email: (msloane at att.net)
Website: <http://www.geocities.com/mikesloane>
Tractor images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>
Work: none - retired

It is surprising what a man can do when he has to, and how little most men
will do when they don't have to. -Walter Linn