Oaklee Sidwell (Credit: KSL-TV)
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PANGUITCH, Utah (TheBlaze/AP) — A 9-year-old southern Utah girl is dead after a wind gust picked up the backyard trampoline she was sitting on and sent it flying more than 150 feet.
Garfield County sheriff's officials say Oaklee Sidwell was playing with friends on the trampoline in her backyard in small town of Panguitch, which is about three-and-a-half hours south of Salt Lake City.
Oaklee Sidwell (Credit: KSL-TV)
Sidwell was the last one sitting on the large trampoline, putting on her shoes, when the sudden gust lifted it and sent it airborne. She fell off the trampoline at some point before it came to rest half a football field away.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Cheryl Church says the trampoline was properly assembled, was anchored to the ground, and had a safety net.
"Panguitch is not a huge city and everyone knows the family," she told KSL-TV. "This tragedy...has affected the entire community."
Sidwell was taken to a local hospital with several injuries and later transferred via helicopter to a children's hospital. The accident happened on Tuesday; Sidwell died Wednesday morning.
Sidwell's family said she was a bright girl who loved animals, KSL reports.
"She started out bottle feeding lambs and calves. From there her motherly instinct grew and she took in many more animals," her family wrote in her obituary. "When you came to her house you could see how much she loved animals with cats, dogs, rabbit, fish, guinea pig, parrot, horses, sheep, and cows."
Here's a report from KSL:
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