Iowa 7th graders hospitalized after hay rack ride goes wrong, says parents, sheriff's office
Keokuk County parents tell us dozens of Sigourney 7th graders were thrown off a hay rack ride Saturday night, and at least two were hospitalized.
It happened on a gravel road just east of What Cheer. Parents tell vlog the children were riding on a flatbed trailer when the accident happened, and were thrown into a ditch.
"I got a call from my son about 9:05, 'Mom, there's an accident, but I'm OK. But other kids are not OK,'" said Annie Burrow.
Burrow says her son was one of the lucky ones who walked away from the accident.
But she says some of the 30-40 other seventh graders are facing serious injuries.
"One of the students, a girl, she has several broken bones. Her pelvis and her vertebrae, organ damage," Burrow said. "Another student has at least one, if not more, broken bones in her ankle/leg."
While most, if not all, of the kids on the trailer were seventh graders in the Sigourney Community School District, it was not a school-sanctioned event. Burrow tells vlog it was organized by a group of parents.
She says there was alcohol for the adults who were waiting for the hay rack ride to return. Burrow said a tracking app she has for her son shows the hay rack ride going up to 25 miles an hour with the kids on the trailer.
The Keokuk County Sheriff's Office tells vlog they are investigating along with the Iowa State Patrol, but they say no one has been arrested yet.
Here is the statement the Keokuk County Sheriff's Office sent to vlog: "At approximately 9:00 p.m. on Saturday October 15, 2023, Keokuk County Sheriff's Dispatch received multiple 9-1-1 calls stating a pickup pulling a trailer for a hayride was in an accident on a gravel road east of What Cheer. Multiple injuries were reported requiring medical attention to which What Cheer QRS, What Cheer Fire Department, Keokuk County Ambulance Service and University of Iowa Aircare responded. The accident is currently under investigation and no further information is available at this time."
Burrow says there have been only rumors about what happened and who was involved, but hasn't received any answers from investigators.