Tonight, a young pregnant mother remains in shock and in heavy stress after her only son was killed in a freak accident while playing in his yard.
Yesterday, Sunday, August 5, shortly before 5:00 p.m., Kevin Garnett, 3, was in his backyard in the Far West Street area when a 100-pound butane tank, made into a barbeque grill, tumbled on top of him as he tried to climb on it. The accident left young Garnett unconscious.
The child was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial, but he succumbed to his injuries there.
The baby’s body lies at the morgue of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital awaiting a post-mortem, tentatively scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
Police report says that the child’s mother, Sophia Gladden, 31, a teacher at Gwen Lizarraga High, told them that sometime before 5:00 p.m., on Sunday, August 5, she was inside her house when her son went outside in the yard. According to Gladden, upon going outside she observed him lying beside a fallen barbecue grill and bleeding from the ear and mouth.
Gladden’s nephew, 13, saw the accident. He said it happened suddenly, said Sophia.
She told us that young Kevin went into the yard to play. In the yard at the time were Kevin’s two older sisters, 9 and 7, and some of his cousins.
After Kevin went into the yard, he went to urine and then ran to an area where a barbeque grill was standing in a tilted position, said his mother.
Kevin tried to climb onto of the grill, but it suddenly fell over, hitting him in the face.
He was trapped underneath it, unconscious, and bleeding from the ear and mouth. He was motionless.
“It appeared my son did not even cry or scream after being hit,” said Sophia.
By the time Kevin was rushed to the KHMH it was too late. Doctors tried for about 30 minutes to revive him, but their efforts were futile.
Kevin Leon Garnett is the son of Evan “Duck” Garnett, who is the campaign manager for Hon. Cordel Hyde, PUP Lake I area representative.
Besides his mother and father, Kevin is survived by two sisters; a half brother and also a half sister.
The funeral service is tentatively scheduled for Friday, August 10, at St. Ignatius Church.