Amish Boy, Age 8, Killed In Farm Equipment Accident (Northwest Pennsylvania)

I hate to share this news, but it’s being reported that a farm accident claimed the life of another Amish child Friday. An eight-year-old boy was pronounced dead this morning at a home in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. More from the CBS Pittsburgh report:

An 8-year-old died after an accident involving farm equipment in Mercer County on Friday morning, authorities said.

In a public information release report, Pennsylvania State Police said troopers were called to an Amish home on Slater Road in Lake Township around 10 a.m. on Friday for reports of an unresponsive boy.

The victim, whose identity wasn’t released, died from injuries “sustained by an accident involving a piece of farm equipment,” police said.

The Mercer County coroner said the boy was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:15 a.m.

The coroner has ruled that the cause of death was blunt force injury to the head, and that it was an accident. There are currently no details as to what type of farm equipment it was. State police said an investigation was ongoing.

In its report, WFMJ adds that county dispatchers received a call “that there was an injured 8-year-old boy beneath a piece of farm equipment,” and that “the caller told dispatchers that the child was lying on the road, unconscious and not breathing.”

The report adds that CPR was performed as first responders arrived. But sadly to no avail.

Mercer County is notable as being one of a few counties with a half-dozen Amish communities lying within its borders. Going by the location of this home in Lake Township, this appears to be the Stoneboro settlement, a small community of around 70 people founded in 2018.

As suggested in the opening to this post, accidents happen on Amish farms, which claim children’s lives. This happens in falls or being run over by equipment, or when operating equipment. It’s tragic, and I’ll limit it to that for now.

Prayers for this family at a very difficult time.