A one-year-old girl was run over and killed by her grandmother who was riding a lawnmower and cutting grass.
The toddler was outside of her 52-year-old grandma’s home in a small town in Lenawee County, Michigan, on Sunday afternoon, when she was struck.
Deputies responded to reports of a child hit by a riding lawnmower on the 11000 block of Herold Highway in Woodstock Township just before 5pm, according to the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office.
Emergency responders rushed the girl to a nearby hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries, The Detroit News reported.
The grandmother was not aware that her granddaughter was outside, deputies found.
It was not immediately clear if the grandma will face charges. Her identity and the child’s have not been released.
Few other details on the incident were disclosed.
Woodstock Township is about 75 miles west of Detroit.
About 70 deaths and 85,000 injuries – including 9,000 involving children – happen in the US annually, according to Children’s Mercy, a pediatric nonprofit health organization based in Kansas City. Many of the accidents happen from contact with the mower or loose debris, and injuries include amputation, fractures, cuts and burns.
The National Association of Landscape Professionals reports similar statistics, with about 90 deaths mostly from riding mowers overturning and pinning operators or running them over. The association estimates 70,000 injuries per year from mowers.
HealthyChildren.org, which is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommends that parents and guardians make sure children are indoors while lawnmowers are being used. Lawnmower riders should be at least 16 years old and wear closed toe shoes and eye protection, the group says.
The toddler died more than seven years after a three-year-old boy riding a lawnmower with his father fell off and was fatally run over in Snohomish County near Seattle, Washington.
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