6-year-old Salem, Connecticut boy Jeffrey Bourgeois died after he fell into a wood chipper while helping his father on a landscaping job during school vacation.
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According to Lt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman, Jeffrey was putting a branch in the chipper at about 8:45 a.m. when it yanked him into the machine after his father momentarily turned his back.
The accident happened at a home in Salem, a town of about 4,000 people nearly 30 miles southeast of Hartford.
Vance said the accident was so terrible that grief counselors were called to the scene:
“The little guy was apparently trying to help his dad. It’s a very tragic and difficult scene for everybody.”
According to the Associated Press, Jeffrey and his two older siblings were with their father, Scott Bourgeois, who owns C&S Tree Removal. The family lives in Salem, less than a half-mile from where the accident happened.
Jeffrey was a first-grader at Salem Elementary School, where he was honored in the school newsletter with a “Caught Being Good” award in December.
Jeffrey and his family also enjoyed running in road races.
The town’s fire chief, Eugene Maiorano, was the first emergency responder to the accident and told WTNH-TV:
“We’re getting counseling for the family. The family lives right across the street from me so I was the first on the scene. Saw that we had basically kept everybody away.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Bourgeois family.
