GARFIELD COUNTY, Utah – A young child died Wednesday morning of injuries she sustained Tuesday in what officials described as a “freak trampoline accident.”
According to a press release from the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, 9-year-old Oaklee Sidwell of Panguitch was playing on a trampoline Tuesday when a great gust of wind caught the trampoline and carried it away with the child still on it.
The child had been playing on the trampoline with other children, who had exited the trampoline before the wind hit. Oaklee had sat down on the trampoline to put her shoes on.
According to the press release, the trampoline went, “many feet high and approximately 50 yards away.” Oakley sustained multiple injuries in the incident, and she was rushed to Garfield Memorial Hospital and then flown to Primary Children’s Medical Center, where she later died of her injuries.
Officials said in the press release that the trampoline had been correctly installed, placed and anchored in the ground. The trampoline had protective netting and, “All of the correct precautions were made to insure the user’s safety.”
