Connecticut boy, 6, killed helping dad with wood chipper
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A 6-year-old boy helping his father on a landscaping job during school vacation was killed Tuesday after getting pulled into a wood chipper, state police said.
Jeffrey Bourgeois was putting a branch in the chipper at about 8:45 a.m. when it yanked him into the machine after his father momentarily turned his back, said Lt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman. The accident happened at a home in Salem, a town of about 4,000 people nearly 30 miles southeast of Hartford.
Vance said the accident was so terrible that grief counselors were called to the scene.
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"The little guy was apparently trying to help his dad," Vance said. "It's a very tragic and difficult scene for everybody."
Jeffrey and his two older siblings were with their father, Scott Bourgeois, who owns C&S Tree Removal. The family lives in Salem, less than a half-mile from where the accident happened.
Jeffrey was a first-grader at Salem Elementary School, where he was honored in the school newsletter with a "Caught Being Good" award in December.
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Jeffrey and his family also enjoyed running in road races. In the Salem Kids 1 Mile Race in April 2011, he finished 45th with a time of 12:32, according to thelastmileracing.com.
The town's fire chief, Eugene Maiorano, was the first emergency responder to the accident.
"We're getting counseling for the family," Maiorano told WTNH-TV. "The family lives right across the street from me so I was the first on the scene. Saw that we had basically kept everybody away."
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Salem First Selectman Kevin Lynden called Tuesday "a very, very sad day for our Salem residents. This was a Salem family, very good family in town, a well-known family. Our hearts and prayers go out to them."