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9-year-old boy suffers head injury in sledding incident in Rochester Hills

Oakland County Sheriff’s Office say boy’s father was towing him while he was on a sled

OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – Registered nurse Jessica Phillips was working a shift Saturday in the labor and delivery unit at Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital when she was notified of an incoming trauma downstairs.

But it was not an expectant mother and instead her 9-year-old son George. He had been in a sledding incident and was later airlifted to Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit with a brain injury and broken thigh bone.

RELATED: Boy, 9, in critical condition after sled crashes into car in Rochester Hills

At about 1 p.m., George was in a Rochester Hills neighborhood, where authorities said his father was pulling the child in his plastic sled behind a Jeep Wrangler. The 9-year-old crashed into a Ford Fusion legally parked on the street.

“We encourage people not to tow people with a motor vehicle. It has too many challenging implications for safety,” said Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.

Bouchard is not predicting an arrest but said they are investigating and the father is cooperating.

“I shutter at the thought of how a parent feels when they go out to try to have fun with their child and they end up causing some very critical and life-threatening injuries,” he said.

A GoFundMe account has been created for the family. Click here if you’d like to donate.


About the Author
Jason Colthorp headshot

Jason is Local 4’s utility infielder. In addition to anchoring the morning newscast, he often reports on a variety of stories from the tragic, like the shootings at Michigan State, to the off-beat, like great gas station food.

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