6 year old killed by wood chipper. Ct

[1969chargerrtse]

I almost hate to post this but I'm hoping some of the thoughts and comments will help me stop dwelling on it.  This cute little 6 year old was sucked into one of those super fast running wood chippers trying to help his dad. If you google for other articles about the story you may find pictures of the huge chipper and truck on flat beds covered with a tarp.  My little 8 year old is with me now at a water park. I cant help thinking if something like that happened to him.
Here was the little boy working with his brother's then gone, in front of them. How can the dad live through this and I'm sure his relationship with his wife is soon over. So sickning that this type of thing could happen.  We as men are quilty of doing unsafe things with our kids. I know I am.
Thoughts?

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/04/12/conn-community-remembers-6-year-old-killed-by-wood-chipper/

[1BAD68]

Ugh this is awful beyond words, what a shame 

[bull]

Jeez. I know hindsight is 20/20 but it was a poor choice putting a boy so young around that type of equipment. Too much to try keeping an eye on while working too.

Be that as it may, I feel very bad for these folks. You try to include your kids in your daily chore activities so they'll learn some good work ethics and then something like this happens. It's stuff like this that makes people a little too vigilant when it comes to kids and safety. But there's nothing you can do in life that's 100% safe. Even a simple trip to the grocery store has the potential to end your life.

[Fred]

That is so very, very sad. An absolute tragedy. What a nightmare this must be for all concerned.

[Cooter]

Almost as bad as that chick backing over one of her 13 kids with the family car. WTF was a kid that young doing around that chipper? Why isn't the father being brought up on charges of child neglect? (I know I'd be raked over the coals). the FIRST thing I tried to do when I was raising my boy who was into trouble every time I turned around, was think of how can he get himself and me into more trouble with a bowling ball and a rubber hammer....These parents obviously didn't practice this type of "looking ahead".



Nope, No pity..My pity reserved for the child. He's the real victim here. If it weren't for his brain dead father/gardian, he'd still be here.

[Dodgecharger74]

I agree with cooter  I was raised on a farm, large machinery, choppers blowers, 200HP tractors,   NO young kids any where near any equimpment while its running.

[1969chargerrtse]

Yeah I hear ya guys.  I have to block myself from thinking about, it's just unreal.  A good point is kids that get run over by their parents, that's just as bad (kinda of?). That's always a worry for me when I back out of the drive way. Losing a child is the most painful thing possible, but to be the cause must be unbearable.  I could never be by one of those machines again if it was me. My life and family would be over, I truly believe that. My wife wouldn't want to see my face, I wouldn't want to see my face and I just can't see working again with that machinery and that's was his own company. Again, I myself have been guilty of doing things others would say wasn't the best idea. Maybe he told little Jeff to stay away form the machine?  I don't know?  I do know my little guy hates loud sounds and wouldn't of been near it anyway.  When he's outside with me when I'm snowblowing I always tell him to stay far away from those rotaing blades.

[Cooter]

Maybe he told little Jeff to stay away form the machine?  I don't know?

Possible, but No one knows at this point. All I'm saying is an 8 Y/O? I could see a 2 year old stumbling out to help Daddy and falling into that thing or something, but an 8 Year old? I'm thiunking more along the lines of Horseplay, or something like I see this "Gen X" Trying on that TV show "world's Dummest"....Only this time, it couldn't be shown on TV.

[1969chargerrtse]

Maybe he told little Jeff to stay away form the machine?  I don't know?

Possible, but No one knows at this point. All I'm saying is an 8 Y/O? I could see a 2 year old stumbling out to help Daddy and falling into that thing or something, but an 8 Year old? I'm thiunking more along the lines of Horseplay, or something like I see this "Gen X" Trying on that TV show "world's Dummest"....Only this time, it couldn't be shown on TV.

Well, he was 6 and helping dad by puttng branches in.  Just not sure if he was aloowed to?  Man the 2 brothers must be just messed up to see that.

[Mike DC]

   
I still can't figure out how so many people succeed in getting hit by slow-moving trains.  Never mind falling into a wood chipper. 

[Chryco Psycho]

You really do not want to know my thoughts

[68 Bullitt Charger]

This was not far from where I live and the story is really so tragic. Let me start by saying may the little boy rest in peace, and God Bless the Family, and the guilt the Father is going through must be horrible. That being said, I have a 6 Yr old and love when he is with me, trying to help me however to have a little Boy near, around or out of arm's distance when such a dangerous machine is being used is totally unresponsible as a Father, it should be criminal. What the F**k was this guy thinking about??? Sorry your Kid's well being come's before ANYTHING!!!!!   Once again, I feel terrible and God Bless that Family.

[stripedelete]

You really do not want to know my thoughts

My thoughts exactly.

[hemi71x]

What a horrific accident, in Salem, CT.
A tree trimmer was also killed by a wood chipper machine a month or two ago, in a city local to me.
Remined me of the movie Fargo.
Remember a segment, what happened in that movie.

[Charger4404spd]

Terrible tragedy, but the father needs his arse kicked for even having the kid that close.

[ACUDANUT]

Kill the father for being a idoit.

[Old Moparz]

Sad story & hopefully one that will at least wake a few people up as to how dangerous machinery can be.   


When I bought my 4 post lifts, one of my concerns was my daughter who was about 6 at the time. After I assembled the first one, I had my daughter come out to the garage so I could show her how it worked. I let her push the button to raise the car, then showed her how it goes down & let her try that too. I put a cardboard box under it & let the lift come down so she could watch it get crushed. I wanted her to see a more dramatic version so she will remember the lift is not a toy. I never had any problems with her playing around with it & she seemed to understand it was not a toy.

[stripedelete]

Sad story & hopefully one that will at least wake a few people up as to how dangerous machinery can be.   


When I bought my 4 post lifts, one of my concerns was my daughter who was about 6 at the time. After I assembled the first one, I had my daughter come out to the garage so I could show her how it worked. I let her push the button to raise the car, then showed her how it goes down & let her try that too. I put a cardboard box under it & let the lift come down so she could watch it get crushed. I wanted her to see a more dramatic version so she will remember the lift is not a toy. I never had any problems with her playing around with it & she seemed to understand it was not a toy.

Good call.  Very much like my dad.  He didn't just tell me something (farm machinery, power tools, etc) was dangerous and to stay away.  He always explained in detail why and how people get themselves into trouble.  In many cases I was very young too, but, it really worked for me.  I still get "ribbed" to this day about being "over safe" around the stuff.   

[FLG]

Very sad indeed...

Grown men who do this for a living have made fatal mistakes and killed themselves....why on earth would you let your child near it, heck i dont even like being near a large wood chipper!

[charger Downunder]

Sad sad sad i gotta go and give my young bloke a hug.

[1969chargerrtse]

I'm gonna send 20.00 to help out. I'm sure the husband has no will to work. If anyone wants to help.

Donations may be mailed to: Bourgeois Family Fund, c/o Salem Town Clerk, 270 Hartford Road, Salem, CT 06420.

[Dino]

Sad story & hopefully one that will at least wake a few people up as to how dangerous machinery can be.   


When I bought my 4 post lifts, one of my concerns was my daughter who was about 6 at the time. After I assembled the first one, I had my daughter come out to the garage so I could show her how it worked. I let her push the button to raise the car, then showed her how it goes down & let her try that too. I put a cardboard box under it & let the lift come down so she could watch it get crushed. I wanted her to see a more dramatic version so she will remember the lift is not a toy. I never had any problems with her playing around with it & she seemed to understand it was not a toy.

Good dad! 

My dad used to tell me and my brother stories about mishaps with powertools.  Years later my brother told my dad that he scared the living hell out of us and now we're a bit scared working with some of them.  My dad's reply was simple, you never had an accident did you?

How right he was.   

[resq302]

thats just down right sad.  I know my daughter has wanted to ride on the garden tractor when Im mowing the lawn and she is sitting on my lap and both arms are around her so she can't go anywhere.  Scary thing is that once we lose the respect for stuff is the first chance it will end up hurting you.  That was the first lesson I learned in swift water rescue class!

[last426]

Several hundred kids are accidentally killed each year by guns kept in the parent's home in the US.  Any person dying without desiring to is sad.  Kim

[TheGhost]

This topic has nothing to do with guns, Kim.

I will reserve my judgement, since I, nor anyone else in this thread, knows all the facts.  My heart goes out to the family.

[Darkman]

I'm sure the husband has no will to work.

I bet he has probably lost the will to live.

[1969chargerrtse]

I'm sure the husband has no will to work.

I bet he has probably lost the will to live.

Yeah they say the dad was real close with the kids.  They did road races as a family and church going. 

[Magnumcharger]

The article said the child was pronounced dead at the scene.
Really? That had to be said?

I used to take my daughter out for a drive on my Yamaha 250 Quad. Seemed pretty safe...until I went up the side of a ditch and almost rolled backwards. Would have probably killed her, even with a helmet on.

I sold the quad not long afterwards. Not taking those kinds of chances with my kids.

[1969chargerrtse]

The article said the child was pronounced dead at the scene.
Really? That had to be said?

I used to take my daughter out for a drive on my Yamaha 250 Quad. Seemed pretty safe...until I went up the side of a ditch and almost rolled backwards. Would have probably killed her, even with a helmet on.

I sold the quad not long afterwards. Not taking those kinds of chances with my kids.

On the news they said and ambulance was called, but then cancelled.  

Ya never know what and when something can happen no matter how safe you are. My daughter and her boyfriend and my little 8 year old were just riding around my yard an hour ago.  I do put my bike helmet on the little guy. It's all grass and they ride slow and safe, because I'm watching!

[myk]

I can't even read the article.  I mean...you could almost feel the ugly fate that awaits tree branches as they're fed into that awful machine, nevermind a human being.  Do you guys think this child felt anything, suffered at all, if even for a split second?  

[Fred]

I'd like to believe not. The pain is not immediate, it comes a little later and by then (and it pains me to say it) he would have been gone.
It turns my stomach just thinking about it.

[1969chargerrtse]

I can't think about either.  I'm sure he didn't know what happened at all. When I was  first thinking about it I couldn't sleep.  I tossed all night, made me sick.  I heard people that knew the boy were throwing up, imagine his teacher or school mates and the empty desk.  Just un thinkable.  I try to put things in perspective if I can and I told myself Imagine the 204,000!!!! people, mostly women and children swept away in the tsunami?  Life really sucks at times.

[Dino]

I think it's time to let this thread go guys, this is way too painful.

[Road Dog]

I hug my little boy (5 1/2) every day and a little tighter after reading things like this.

[gtx6970]

This is painfull to even just write, I can only imagine the pain in the fathers heart. And I will hug my girls today in this childs memory.
The title of this thread alone kept me from even opening the article, Almost didn't open this thread in fear of details being posted here.  I will sleep better not knowing any more details.

Should something like this happen to my family,, I couldn't live with that kind of grief on my heart 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year

[Mike DC]

             
Not to sound callous but I think you guys are getting too swept up by this thing.  Yeah it's grisly and sad but so are a lot of things. 

The child is dead.  There's no getting hurt any worse once you reach that point. He's not "more dead" because his body was more destroyed than some people upon their death.  It's the same result if he had bumped the back of his head on a bicycle and left his parents a nice cute body for an open-casket funeral.  Either way the life is gone and what's buried is going to be recycled by nature pretty quickly.   


People & animals die in accidental ways every day by the millions.  I can think of worse ways to go than this one.  This one had to be very quick and that's what counts IMHO.

[TheGhost]

Its not the child I feel the most for.  Its the people who saw this.  The father, the EMTs, and anyone else.  I know I wouldn't be able to sleep decently for a long time if it was me.

[jwramc]

Some interesting points so far. My 15-year-old nephew lost his best friend about a year ago this same way in Poquoson, VA.

He was out working with dad on a job, and was using a shovel to push brush and such into the maw. The shovel got tangled and pulled in, and in the instant it was grabbed, it twisted around, the handle of the shovel now tangle his hand in it, and the kid just followed the shovel in.

I agree the fathers were total fuckups for the dismissal of basic safety. ONLY an adult should be feeding that beast. But stupid is very much a default position for humans, as we just think we're gonna live forever 'til circumstances prove us wrong. Kids are even worse with this.

I myself have stood at that maw a few times, and every time I did, I followed the manual exactly- I stood WAY back and to the side and THREW the branches in. And the sooner I could get away from it, the better. You don't get to react on the high-speed units. You might think to say 'oh, shit' when it gets you...but you'll be lucky to get the 'oh' out before you're dispatched from the other end.

[1969chargerrtse]

Some interesting points so far. My 15-year-old nephew lost his best friend about a year ago this same way in Poquoson, VA.

He was out working with dad on a job, and was using a shovel to push brush and such into the maw. The shovel got tangled and pulled in, and in the instant it was grabbed, it twisted around, the handle of the shovel now tangle his hand in it, and the kid just followed the shovel in.

I agree the fathers were total fuckups for the dismissal of basic safety. ONLY an adult should be feeding that beast. But stupid is very much a default position for humans, as we just think we're gonna live forever 'til circumstances prove us wrong. Kids are even worse with this.

I myself have stood at that maw a few times, and every time I did, I followed the manual exactly- I stood WAY back and to the side and THREW the branches in. And the sooner I could get away from it, the better. You don't get to react on the high-speed units. You might think to say 'oh, shit' when it gets you...but you'll be lucky to get the 'oh' out before you're dispatched from the other end.

OMG a 15 year too.  Man that is gross.  You just can't help picturing it.

[1969chargerrtse]

           
Not to sound callous but I think you guys are getting too swept up by this thing.  Yeah it's grisly and sad but so are a lot of things.  

The child is dead. There's no getting hurt any worse once you reach that point. He's not "more dead" because his body was more destroyed than some people upon their death. It's the same result if he had bumped the back of his head on a bicycle and left his parents a nice cute body for an open-casket funeral. Either way the life is gone and what's buried is going to be recycled by nature pretty quickly.    


People & animals die in accidental ways every day by the millions.  I can think of worse ways to go than this one. This one had to be very quick and that's what counts IMHO.

Yeah a little on the hard side, but you make good points.  I thought the same thing, try not to dwell on how it happened, like the 200,000 swept out to sea. Dead is dead. It's just hard not to picture it in your head, and when you do it's sickinning to the max.  The story does matter.  A 50 year old druggy dying by drugs and a cute little 6 year old helping dad, and ground up in a shredder and splattered all over the yard are different to the heart even though they are both dead.

[jwramc]

Wow, my story was actually 2.5 years ago, and it was his UNCLE he was working with. Just imagine making that call to your sister.

http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Poquoson-teen-dies-in-woodchipper-accident-71118177.html

Researching further, this uncle REALLY pushed the envelope for blatant negligence.

"Police said he was using a shovel to drop debris into the wood chipper's hopper when it got caught in the machine's blades, dragging him in and killing him instantly.
The Va. Department of Labor and Industry issued its findings Thursday, saying the machine shouldn't have been used.
"The wooden paddle was missing, the feet control was missing, the lower door hadn't been installed. There were six things missing," said Jennifer Wester, Cooperative Programs director."

The official report-
http://images.bimedia.net/documents/woodchipperdeath_citation.pdf

[1969chargerrtse]

Wow, my story was actually 2.5 years ago, and it was his UNCLE he was working with. Just imagine making that call to your sister.

http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Poquoson-teen-dies-in-woodchipper-accident-71118177.html

Researching further, this uncle REALLY pushed the envelope for blatant negligence.

"Police said he was using a shovel to drop debris into the wood chipper's hopper when it got caught in the machine's blades, dragging him in and killing him instantly.
The Va. Department of Labor and Industry issued its findings Thursday, saying the machine shouldn't have been used.
"The wooden paddle was missing, the feet control was missing, the lower door hadn't been installed. There were six things missing," said Jennifer Wester, Cooperative Programs director."

The official report-
http://images.bimedia.net/documents/woodchipperdeath_citation.pdf

70,000 in fines

[jwramc]

Yea, but another article said that was cut in half in a deal, and all but $1000 of it was suspended for 5 years... likely erased if he doesn't shred another relative in that time.

So his stupidity resulted in his nephew's life being valued at $1000. 

[General_01]

Pretty sad. The Dad and the Uncle in each incident are scarred for life. Walking zombies who will forever never truly have a joyous moment in their life. They may laugh at jokes and learn to smile, but there will never be joy in their hearts again. Maybe that's a fate worse than jail or death.

[ACUDANUT]

I agree

[1969chargerrtse]

Yeah and like mentioned before, it could be an auto accident or anything else, if you could of prevented it, it's a heavy toll to pay forever. Still to lose your own 6 year old and in a un speakable manner, I don't know how I could go on but the other two need daddy also. Yuk. I almost killed my niece twice in my lifetime. You never know.