Little Girl Dies in 'Freak' Trampoline Accident
Authorities in Utah's Garfield County say "all the precautions" were in place, but that's of little comfort to the parents of 9-year-old Oaklee Lynn Sidwell who died last week from injuries she sustained after the backyard trampoline she was on got carried away by a "freak" gust of wind.
Oaklee, of Panguitch, had been sitting alone on the anchored trampoline after her friends had all dismounted.
She began to tie her shoes when a strong gust of wind suddenly lifted the trampoline several feet in the air, and hurled it some 50 yards away.
"It was just a freak type thing that happened here," said Garfield County sheriff’s spokeswoman Cheryl Church, "that the wind would come along and pick it up and carry her away."
Oaklee was rushed to Garfield Memorial Hospital and then by helicopter to Primary Children's Medical Center, but her injuries were too severe and she died the following day.
"Oaklee was here with us for nine wonderful years and was so full of life," Oaklee's family wrote in her obituary. "She lived it to the fullest and shared her happiness with everyone around her."