Reader comments
2-year-old run over by lawn mower

Never let your children ride with you on your lawnmower. I hope CFPS is reading this article and investigates.

Why in the world would you put a 2yr old BEHIND you on a 4 wheeler anyway???? No matter what you were doing. If the child is going to ride, put them in front of you so you can hold on to them or at least they have something to hold on to. The span of the seat is always more narrow in the front and their little legs will fit better than in the back. Some adults have trouble sitting behind an adult on the back of one of those. Some people have no common sense!

This stupidity is scary, a 2 year old being allowed to do this by her father is totally ignorant. He should be arrested and tried for child endangerment and child abuse. He really needs to attend child rearing and SAFTEY classes,after he gets out of jail.

Just another example of idiot parents. He should be charged with something. Send a message to other idiot parents thatyou must use caution when your small kids are around. don't tell me this could happen to anyone. I get so sick of everyone making excuses.

Notify Texas CPS so they can round up every child who lives in a home that has a lawnmower.

Some parents don't deserve to be parents.

What is going on with all of these parents who are leaving kids in their cars on hot days, allowing them to wander off, abusing them. It seems to be getting worse, and I doubt if it's just more press coverage. It appears that the self indulgent society is finally getting to the child bearing age and look at their children as they look at everything else......as things to use or throw away.

I was three when I was run over by a riding lawnmower driven by my father. He is certainly not an idiot, the best man I know. No matter what some people think or don't want to hear, it CAN happen to anyone. Kids will always be unpredictable. You people that have kids should know that already. It is unfortunate that strangers can be so quick to judge and spew their spiteful venom. The parents are already suffering enough.

P.S. Your kids will still love you.

What is happening with the common sense of parents of small children?? Good grief - no child belongs on the back of a riding lawn mower or on the back of anything!! Just because the father was driving the thing doesn't make it safe. Gee wiz parents just are not thinking anymore. Now that poor little child has 2 missing toes and what ever else cause of the stupidity of her father. And I call missing 2 toes pretty severe.

Wow what a lucky girl. An Angel must have been watching over her!

I think a lot of people in here are overreacting. There are such things as accidents. You people keep talking like he is a bad parent. My 2 and a half year old absolutely loves lawn mowers and he rides on a sit down mower with me all the time (yes he is in front of me and yes I am very careful). I would argue that I am a great parent and am very careful not to endanger my son. Just because this family had an accident doesn't make him a bad father.
Knowing my son he will probably get hurt at one point or another because he has so much energy and is always running around. That's life.
Pull your head out people.

I wish we'd all stop calling this type of occurence an "accident". An accident is reasonably unavoidable and/or unpredictable. This was neither.

I'm sure the father feels horrible, and he'll never let anything like this happen again. But, come on. Letting a 2 year old ride with you on a 4-wheeler while you pull a mower BEHIND you? It just doesn't get much more senseless than that.

Oh right so all of the people here have never had to take a child to the hospital? Your probably going to be mad when your child grows up and is scared to go outside by themselves. Let the children be free.

thank you "experience". What happened to this little child is really awful, but, I don't believe there was one ounce of intent in her accident. Parents just make assumptions sometimes, such as: this could never happen to me or I can always protect my children. I am constantly amazed at the tirades that come out of people's mouths. A relative of mine (years back) had her sister (9) riding in the back of a PU she was driving. Went around a corner and the sister fell out and was killed. No one could ever possibly punish my neice as much as she did herself. I'm beginning to think this state is devoid of compassion and understanding. Too bad. I was taught all my life not to judge anyone if I haven't walked in their shoes.

Accidents are going to happen, and whenever they do, there's always the chorus of people feeding off tragedy with the "I-told-you-so's" and "I would never...". Just because this guy had some misfortune doesn't make you better than him.

This state is not void of compassion and understanding. It is devoid of parents who use common sense. Sorry an innocent nine year old was killed because of stupidity, but that's the truth. She had no business riding in the back of a truck and apparently her parents hadn't instructed others in the family about the dangers of such foolish behavior. I guess some people have to learn the hard way. It's also a way of insuring stupidity isn't passed on to future generations.

Big difference between the posts at the top and then as they start to slide to the bottom. Accidents happen, I think we should be amazed the father wanted to be with his daughter. I'm sure he feels terrible. Involve CPS? Please, with Utah being the Meth Mom capital of the world there are others they could look into.

Over reaction and Experience

I think you are the people that most of the posts are referring to on here. No one is saying that you must coddle children and protect their every move. Yes, accidents will happen... But this could have been avoided had the father used more common sense. A child must be in a car seat or booster seat until they are older, not just to protect them in the event of an accident, but also to keep them from climbing around the car. Kids have a hard time sitting still. This poor child could have been looking behind to see what the mower was doing.

To Voice of reason... in many states it is against the law to ride in the bed of a pickup. The incident you related is the exact reason. Its just stupid.

This was no accident--this is extremely poor judgment. An accident would be if she were standing on the sidewalk and tripped into the path of the lawnmower.