Fennville boy, 10, run over and killed

GANGES TOWNSHIP -- A 10-year-old Fennville boy died Wednesday when he tried to jump aboard a farm truck and was run over by the vehicle in a green pepper field in Ganges Township.

Allegan County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Dean Kapenga said Carlos Lee Garcia was killed at 1:36 p.m. when the owner of the 10-acre farm, near the intersection of 63rd and 122nd avenues, backed over him as she drove in reverse down a two-track road.

Kapenga said the boy was in the fields with his parents, but was not picking peppers before falling under the moving truck. Police refused to release the name of the farm owner.

"She was backing down to get another load of peppers, and it appears he tried to jump in the back of the truck and missed," Kapenga said. "The driver never saw him.

"He'd been in that field before and jumped on the truck before, but this time he didn't make it."

Rescue personnel rushed Carlos to South Haven Community Hospital, where he died. Lidia Garcia, Carlos' mother, lives close to the pepper farm, police said.

At the family home Wednesday evening, relatives gathered to mourn Carlos' death. They declined to talk about the accident.

The boy was set to enter the sixth grade at Fennville Middle School, school officials said. Fennville schools open following the Labor Day holiday this year.

Garcia's death is similar to a 1998 accident at an Ottawa County blueberry farm. In that case, 9-year-old Erik Garcia, who is not related to Carlos, also attempted to jump on a truck that was moving in reverse in a farm field. The boy's father was driving the truck and ran over him during harvesting, Ottawa sheriff's deputies said.