CEDAR CITY — A young child was airlifted to the hospital Tuesday evening after being pinned by a water container while riding in the back of a pickup truck in the Beryl area of western Iron County.
Iron County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Humphries said the incident happened at approximately 8:10 p.m. and involved a pickup truck that was carrying a water tank in its bed, where three children were riding.
“The strap broke on the water tank, which then slid and crushed one of the children in the back of the truck. They were pinned,” Humphries told Cedar City News on Wednesday.
“The parents were able to get the child unpinned, and then they ended up using Life Flight and transporting him to St George Regional Hospital,” Humphries said, adding that the boy is approximately 7 years old.
“There was numbness in parts of his body,” Humphries said. “That’s why they were concerned, about a possible spinal injury.”
Humphries said he has not heard any further updates on the boy’s condition.
The other two children who were in the back of the truck were not injured, he added.
Although state law requires that motorized vehicle passengers wear either a seat belt or be secured in a child safety seat, an exception is provided if all seating positions are occupied by other passengers.
“Technically, it’s legal to be in the back of the pickup if all of the seat belts are in use in the front,” Humphries said. “By law, they become cargo.”
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