3-year-old recovering after injuries during Blue Tip parade

ARCHIVE PHOTO FROM PREVIOUS BLUE TIP PARADE

By EMILY CANNING-DEAN

BGNN staff writer

WADSWORTH  A 3-year-old boy was hospitalized after he was struck by a modified ride-on car at the Blue Tip Parade June 23.

Police said the incident took place at approximately 6:40 p.m. along the parade route near Broad Street and Auble Street.

“These are souped up ride on toys that are modified to do tricks and stunts,” Lt. Seth Petit of the Wadsworth Police Department said. “From what we can see in video footage, the operator appeared to be doing a wheelie and had fallen off but the vehicle continued off the road and struck the little boy.”

EMS quickly responded to the boy to assess him and transport him to Akron Children’s Hospital. The parade was stopped while EMS tended to the boy.

“Fortunately, we had EMS and police staged along the parade route and there were some EMS officials stationed nearby so they were able to get to him pretty quickly,” Petit said.

Petit said the boy sustained multiple broken bones.

“He definitely hit his head. EMS I talked to said he had a bump on his head, and I think he was unconscious at one point, but I talked to his mother yesterday and he was still in the hospital but is expected to make a full recovery,” Petit said June 25.

Petit said Wadsworth police are currently in the middle of an investigation of the incident.

“Since this involved a motor vehicle and in resulted in an injury, we will investigate this thoroughly,” he said. “We have a lot of  witnesses to talk to and videos to review. Once that is complete, we will forward the information to the prosecutor’s office. It’s kind of a complicated situation so we want to look at it from all angles to determine if there was any reckless behavior or wrongdoing. It is a terrible accident by all accounts.”

Petit confirmed the operator of the vehicle was an adult and he said there is no indication of impairment.

“Officers did an assessment of the driver, and they didn’t suspect any drug or alcohol use,” Petit said.

During the parade, which has taken place very June for more than 50 years, law enforcement officials caution onlookers to stay out of the roadway while the procession is going by.

“We don’t want people throwing candy where kids are running out in the road to get it, so we always tell people to keep back and out of the road,” Petit said. “But this kid and his family were in the grassy area out of the roadway and where they were supposed to be by all accounts.”

In an effort to improve safety during future events, Petit said the police department has been in conversations with the Blue Tip Festival Committee to determine if this type of act – the modified ride-on cars – should be included in the parade in the future.

“These types of vehicles are not unique to our parade, but we don’t want something like this happening again, so I think we definitely want to take a hard look and evaluate whether we want to have these kinds of vehicles in the parade again,” he said.