6-Year-Old Killed in Wood Chipper Incident

[Throckmorton]

Source: WHNB Channel 30

State police are investigating the untimely death of a 6-year-old boy on Brookside Drive in Salem.

State police have identified the child as Jeffrey Bourgeoif and said family members have been notified.

Jeffrey was helping his father clear brush.

The child's father was working with a wood chipper and turned his back for a brief moment, police said, and the boy's arm got stuck in the wood chipper.

Not much more at link.

Read more: http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Police-Investigate-Death-of-6-Year-Old-146806135.html

---

Horrific accident, 6 year old killed in wood chipper in Salem Connecticut this morning, This happened just around the corner, I don't know the family.

[Ecumenist]

1. Oh God, Bless his little heart and safe passage, Jeffery....Safe and lovely passage.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Woodchippers are a great landscaping tool.

I have a Patu DC40 that drives off my tractor transmission. I've lost gloves from feeds that suddenly grab and pull you towards the blade entrance. It's not the large feeds that are dangerous, it's the small brush that tends to catch hard and quick into the feed. That said, I'd never let a 6 YO anywhere near the chipper when it is under power.

[deutsey]

3. I have to stop opening threads like this

My thoughts go out to the family and friends of that boy.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. That has got to be the worst.......

I don't know what to say.......

[renate]

5. my heart goes out to the family and especially the dad

The suffering he's going to go through... just unimaginable. I hope he has a very compassionate family and group of friends, and he will need a very good therapist.

I can't bear to think of that little boy, proud to be helping his daddy... and then this happens. This is the saddest thing I've heard of for a long, long time.

[Scairp]

6. Six years old and near a wood chipper?

I'm sorry, I am as horrified as everyone else, but I would never let any 6 year old of mine within 50 feet of a wood chipper. Such terrible judgment on the part of the father and the child has paid for it.

FYI, I think they spelled the family name wrong. I saw it as "Bourgeois" in another article on this accident. It's spelled wrong somewhere. You'd think the least the idiots in the media could do is spell someone's name correctly.

[Skeptikat]

7. THIS is exactly why we have child labor laws...

My heart goes out to the family- EXCEPT the grossly irresponsible father. He should be jailed for manslaughter. As the owner of a tree service, he would have been a regular user of the wood chipper and well aware of the danger. What that poor child must have gone through in his last moments is just unimaginably sickening. Bringing his children onto a job site was unprofessional. He put his client in a very awkward position, liability-wise. I don't recall the article saying whether the father or the client owned the wood chipper.

One thing is certain, having the children help was ILLEGAL. I'm surprised no one intervened to have the kids removed from the job site. I hope they are not allowed to accompany him going forward. I'm usually annoyed when a new law crops up in response to a single incident, but I really hope in this case that someone writes a bill mandating stiff penalties for anyone who allows a minor to come within a certain distance of a chipper, even if they aren't actually using it. So much can go wrong in the blink of an eye.

[avebury]

12. There are some in the Republican Party who wan to do

away with Child Labor Laws. Gingrich said that Child Labor Laws are stupid.

[tabasco]

8. Needs investigated.

Might be murder. It's at least negligent homicide.

[Proles]

10. I'm sure it was just an accident.

Accidents happen. Should a 6 year old have been allowed near a wood chipper? Probably not, but I think the father learned that the hard way, unfortunately.

Perhaps it'll serve a lesson for other parents at least.

[cali]

11. sorry, it's not that he probably shouldn't be allowed near a wood chipper

it.'s that NO FUCKING WAY should any child have been allowed within 100 feet of an operating woodchipper. There is no probably about it.

[magical thyme]

17. the father was a professional landscaper

He had absolutely no business bringing a child to a work site and he absolutely should have understood the dangers involved with the equipment he used every day in his work.

If I were that homeowner, I would not have allowed him to work had I known. I hope those poor homeowners who hired this landscaper were at work and didn't have to suffer witnessing such horror. I sure as hell wouldn't want such a memory haunting me for the rest of my life.

Charging the father with manslaughter would almost be a favor to him.

[tabasco]

19. Well, as long as an internet poster with no evidence is sure,

we can cancel that investigation.

[Scairp]

21. I'm not too sure about that

The father used extraordinarily poor judgment resulting in the death of his young son and he will have to live with that for the rest of his life. I'm more concerned about the other children, the 6 year olds siblings who apparently witnessed this horrible thing happen to their brother right in front of them. I don't know about criminal charges but I think that child protective services should be involved in some way to make sure the other kids get the help they need, and to make certain the father wasn't a drunk or a chronic user of illicit drugs that impaired his judgment about letting the kids around the wood chipper. I don't know enough about what happened to make a judgment about what if any action should be taken against this father or the mother (I guess there's a mother). They obviously should be investigated to make certain this momentary lack of inattention to the children around this dangerous piece of equipment was an isolated incident and not some pattern. Bottom line, make sure the other children are safe and will get the professional help they need to cope with what they saw.

[left coaster]

9. Are there any other children in the family? They need protection from that dad.

His actions were criminally negligent, in my opinion. Such an awful story.

[Throckmorton]

13. Yes, there are two older children.

One around 8 and the other I beleive is 11.

The community is just stunned. In my first post I said I didn't know the family, but I have used the fathers tree service and it turns out I have met the father.

I also had a visit by a local EMT last night, an old friend, that said he isn't sure he can ever go on another run after yesterday.

[magical thyme]

20. according to the Huffington Post article

the other 2 children were there as well. Horrific. Just horrific.

[NickB79]

14. I won't even mow the yard unless I know my wife has our 2-yr old in the house

I would NEVER even think about using power equipment around her. Oh God, that's horrible.

[Scairp]

22. You clearly have a brain

At this point I really don't care about this father. Maybe that's cold, but he had NO business allowing his children anywhere near this kind of dangerous equipment. I do care very much about the other children and what this has done to them, because as I understand it they were there and witnessed the whole thing. Those poor little kids are now deeply, psychologically scarred for life and I don't know how they are ever going to get over this. This father is a complete fucking moron and I hope he suffers beyond measure for the rest of his life.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. This morning? So this child wasn't in school??

[Remmah2]

16. My kids are out on Easter/spring break. nt

nt

[Throckmorton]

18. Yesterday Morning, this post is now more than 24 hours old

Salem/East Lyme Connecticut schools are on spring break this week. Both my older children go to East Lyme High School which handles both towns children.