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Share11-year-old Alberta boy dies when ATV he’s driving rolls on him
By The Canadian Press
Published: August 29, 2008 8:03 PM
ATHABASCA — An 11-year-old boy from northern Alberta has died in an accident involving an all-terrain vehicle.
RCMP say Rhett Deleeuw, who was driving, died from massive head and chest injuries after he lost control making a turn and the ATV flipped on top of him.
The boy’s cousins, a nine-year-old and a 12-year-old who were along for a ride, were not injured.
The accident happened during a surprise 40th birthday party for Rhett’s mother at a rural residence northeast of Athabasca.
“We’ve had him driving since he was about five,” the grieving mother, Sherry Deleeuw, said Friday.
“Our feeling was that you teach when they’re young and teach them to respect the machines and know how they operate.”
Police say Rhett wasn’t wearing a helmet and no one was using seatbelts.
Safety advocates suggested an 11-year-old is just too young to handle the powerful equipment.
“I don’t care how good they think they are, kids that age do not have the concept of consequences that can happen if they make a mistake,” said George Billings of the Alberta Safety Council.
Sherry Deleeuw said her son was supposed to have been in hockey school Thursday, but he didn’t go because her husband was having the surprise party.
“So my family had come up and he was told he could stay home and play with his cousins instead of going to the school.”
Rhett’s twin sister, Harley-Anne, and seven-year-old brother, Pacean, as well as other cousins, were on two quads behind Rhett and drove the 400 metres to the family home to get help.
Rhett’s grandmother, a registered nurse, raced to the scene but said there was little that could be done.
