Two boys have died in separate incidents involving Halloween tractor hayrides in Minnesota and Tennessee.
According to a news release, the Stearns county sheriff’s office in Minnesota received a call last Saturday about an accident in St Augusta at approximately 7.37pm. The incident occurred at the city’s annual Harvest of Horror Haunted Hayride and involved a young boy who was injured when run over by a trolley wagon being pulled by a tractor.
Employees and bystanders, including an off-duty police officer and an off-duty medic, immediately started to render aid, the sheriff’s office said. It added that life-saving efforts continued on scene after first responders arrived but were ultimately unsuccessful. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene and has since been identified as 13-year-old Alexander Mick from Rice, Minnesota.
The incident is currently under investigation by the sheriff’s office.
In his obituary, Mick is described as “always so helpful, scientific, very techy, loved computers, was full of energy, had a great sense of humor and an infectious smile” and “always tried to be the first to say, ‘Love you more.’”
In a separate news release, the Hamilton county sheriff’s office in Tennessee said it had responded to a call about an incident at a local Halloween venue on Friday at approximately 10.45pm. According to the sheriff’s office, the call was about a juvenile who had been stuck by a tractor.
Upon arrival, officers spoke to a chaperone for a group of juveniles who were playing near a hayride tractor route and were behind some bushes trying to scare some hayriders at the Haunted Hilltop Halloween event.
According to the sheriff’s office, one of the juveniles had attempted to jump on the trailer and had possibly slipped and fell underneath the wheels and was found unresponsive. The juvenile succumbed to their injuries and was pronounced dead on the scene.
“The HCSO family extends our thoughts and sympathy to the family of the deceased juvenile, as well as the others who witnessed the tragic event. We ask the community [to] also keep this family in their prayers during this difficult time,” the sheriff’s office said.
The boy has since been identified in local outlets as 12-year-old Samuel Jessen. Describing their son, Jessen’s family said: “Sam was a seventh grade student at [Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts], where he played soccer and basketball for the Eagles. But Sam’s passion was football. Sam … loved keeping up with the NFL, where he planned on making a career by being drafted in the first round to the Kansas City Chiefs,” Chattanooogan.com reports.