UTAH COUNTY, UTAH – October 14, 2015 (Kurt Hanson/ Herald Extra) A hayride is supposed to be a family fun event but for one Utah County family, it turned from fun to tragic in just a matter of seconds.
The incident happened on Saturday, October 10, at the Harward Farms in Springville when, during a hayride, two boys got swept up under the trailer as the driver of the tractor tried to negotiate around bales of hay. “We all got loaded on the trailer to have some fun. We were sitting on the side of the trailer with our feet dangling,” said the boys’ mom in a statement on their family blog. “We came around the corner that was cut too short and snagged the kids legs and drug them under the trailer.”
Both boys were taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center where one of the boys received treatment for minor injuries. The other boy, who was ran over by the back tires of the trailer, was then airlifted to Primary Children’s Hospital with a broken pelvis, broken femur and a large laceration near his groin.
“It’s never happened. We’ve been doing this for 15 years and we’ve never seen this happen,” Jake Harward, of Harward Farms, told Herald Extra.
Harward said the tractor driver has been very shaken up since the incident. “She was in shock after it happened. She felt really bad, still feels really bad,” he said.
According to the blog, the boy has made a lot of progress and was moved out of the Intensive Care Unit into the Neuro-Trauma Unit on Monday.
The family continues to express their gratitude through their blog for all the support they have received since the incident saying: ‘We are overwhelmed with all the love and support that keeps flooding in for us. Reading all your kind comments and love helps us get through everyday.”
Harward said they’ve changed policies on their hayrides to prevent future tragedies from happening. The drivers have also undergone further training.
