April 16, 2004

Boy run over by lawn mower

       A 4-year-old boy was severely hurt by a riding lawn mower after his mother accidentally backed over him Thursday afternoon.  Cameron Spaulding suffered deep lacerations to his arms and legs from the mower’s spinning rotor blades. Paramedics had to detach a mower blade still embedded in his body to free him.  A Lifeline helicopter whisked Spaulding to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. He was in surgery about 6 p.m. Thursday and the hospital did not have a condition listing for him, a Clarian Health spokeswoman said.  The accident was reported at 1:33 p.m. Thursday, on the back lawn of 5100 Summerfield Crossing in the Copperleaf subdivision in White River Township.  Rhonda Spaulding was cutting the lawn on the full-size Craftsman riding mower. Her 4-year-old son Cameron was running behind her playing with a green plastic toy truck.  “He was following her. She went to back up, not realizing he was that close, and backed up over him and pinned him under the deck of the mower,” Johnson County sheriff’s deputy Richard Skaggs said.  “She backed up not much, heard a big thud and the mower stopped,” he said.  Next-door neighbor Sandra Langston heard Rhonda Spaulding’s screams through her open windows after the tractor accident.  “At first I thought she was calling for the children, but I saw her trying to get underneath,” Langston said.  Langston ran outside to help, grabbing the phone and dialing 911. Both women tried unsuccessfully to lift the heavy mower off Cameron.  The red-and-black 25-horsepower mower was mostly covering the boy, Langston said.  “His leg was ripped to shreds, and his arm was wrapped around the blades,” she said. “It was horrible to see that.”  Spaulding stayed by Cameron’s side to comfort her son while waiting for paramedics and firefighters to arrive from Bargersville, White River Township and the Rural/Metro Ambulance Service.  Rescuers inflated air bags underneath the lawn tractor to gently raise it enough to reach the child underneath.  With the blade impaled in Cameron’s body, rescuers removed a bolt that attached the blade to the spindle, Bargersville assistant fire chief James Thompson said.  Thompson and paramedics said young Spaulding suffered deep lacerations on his right arm and leg and was conscious the entire time.  “We didn’t hear him cry except when he couldn’t see his mom,” paramedic Kevin Tibbs said. “He also said ‘Ow’ when we stuck him with the IV.”  Langston said the boy was able to move his fingers and had feeling in his hand after the accident.  A neighbor drove Rhonda Spaulding to Methodist Hospital since there wasn’t room for her in the helicopter. The husband and father, Gary Spaulding, was meeting them at the hospital.  Skaggs said the injury will be ruled an accident.  The couple has two other children who were staying with neighbors.  Neighborhood children described Cameron as a fun-loving boy who loves playing with his toy trucks and car and his dog, a Sheltie terrier named Teddy.  “He was a very energetic kid who loves running around the yard and playing on the swing set,” said Meghan Jansen, 13, who has baby-sat for the Spauldings. “It’s very sad that this could happen.”  The Rev. Guy Langston, husband of Sandra Langston, was at the hospital Thursday afternoon with the Spaulding family. The surgeon told the family that Cameron has lost part of a foot, but it appeared his injured arm could be saved. The surgeon was unsure what use the arm would have, Guy Langston said.  The surgeon added that Cameron would be in reconstructive surgery most of the night, said Langston, minister of Franklin Church of Christ.
  

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