Hawleyville Child Injured By Falling Tree Now Recovering At Home

By Andrew Gorosko

A Hawleyville child, who was struck and critically injured by a falling tree at his Farrell Road home on April 15, this week returned home from the hospital as he recovers from his injuries.

While his father, Steven Jarvis, was cutting a tree in the family’s yard at 55 Farrell Road at about 4:30 pm April 15, Justin Jarvis, age 2½ , wandered out into the yard from inside the family home and was struck by a section of the falling tree, according to police.

“When the tree fell, Justin was hit by a limb or limbs,” reported police patrol Officer Gary Wheeler, who investigated the incident. The Jarvis property is near Farrell Road’s intersection with Hawleyville Road.

Officer Wheeler reported that Justin had been inside the house with his mother, Sandra, and his older siblings while his father was doing some tree cutting in the yard. After the toddler wandered outdoors, his father did not see the boy because his view was obscured by piles of cut wood in the area, Officer Wheeler reported. The boy thus went unnoticed by his father who was concentrating on using a chain saw to fell a tall tree, police said.

Sergeant Aaron Bahamonde, who was the police supervisor went the incident occurred, said that he received a call alerting him that the boy had suffered a severe traumatic head injury after being struck by a fallen branch. Justin was in a semiconscious state when emergency service staffers arrived at the scene, the sergeant said. The boy did not have an open wound, Sgt Bahamonde added.

Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps members and the regional paramedic responded to the accident scene.

They transported Justin to Danbury Hospital under critical injury status. Danbury Hospital officials then had Justin airlifted to Yale-New Haven Hospital via the LifeStar helicopter to receive advanced treatment.

After treatment at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Justin was discharged on April 19 and returned home to Hawleyville to recover, a hospital spokeswoman said. Medical care included a battery of tests.

Sgt Bahamonde said Steven Jarvis had been cutting the tree in his yard to make way for a swing set, which he planned to install for his children.

In the incident, Justin opened a sliding-glass door without his mother knowing and walked out into the yard to learn what his father was doing, Sgt Bahamonde said. At the time that Justin left the house, the Jarvises’ four children, plus a fifth child, were in the house, the sergeant said.

Just as the tree that he was cutting down started to fall, Steven Jarvis spotted his son standing in the tree’s fall zone, the sergeant explained. The falling tree then struck the boy.

Such an incident should alert the parents of small children to be aware of the potential for such accidents, Sgt Bahamonde said.