May 25, 2013
News 12 at 6 o'clock / Monday, March 11, 2013
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW) -- A 15-year-old is dead after a dirt bike accident in Hephzibah over the weekend.
Nick Goodwin was up and walking after the accident with barely a scratch, but died Sunday night at the hospital.
Nick's father, Vince Goodwin, started to tear up as he talked about his son.
"He loved his dirt bike, and actually, he was getting ready to sell it so he could get him a truck," Goodwin said.
He would never get the chance, though, because Nick's life was cut short in a dirt bike accident.
"He was riding his dirt bike and had done been through there a couple of times, and the cable was down," his father said.
The property next to their home is used for hunting. A cable across the path had been down for a while, but at some point Friday, it was put back up and Nick ran into it on his dirt bike.
"I understand them putting the cable up, but they really need to put something on it so someone coming through there can see it," his father said.
Right in front of the wire where the accident happened, pieces of PVC pipe litter the ground. The pieces used to cover the wire but have since rotted off.
"He came walking up through the front yard, saying he couldn't breathe, gasping for breath," Goodwin said.
The cable clothes-lined Nick, leaving a rope burn-looking injury on his neck and crushing his windpipe.
"It didn't look bad, it was just, he had a bad scrape on his neck, but he just couldn't breathe. It just didn't look like it was as bad as it was," Goodwin said.
His family called 911 and started CPR. When he got to the hospital, they performed emergency surgery to rebuild his wind pipe, but it was too late. He had lost too much oxygen to his brain, and his family had lost their whole world.
"Right now, we don't really know what we're doing from day to day," Goodwin said.
The family says they're just trying to deal with this terrible loss, but they do ask hunters, if you have a cable like this on your property, just put a sign on it, or some orange tape. They say this accident proves that you just never know what can happen.
Initial report:
HEPHZIBAH, Ga. (WRDW) -- A Hephzibah teen is dead after a wreck on a dirt bike near Horseshoe Circle.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, Nicholas Wayne Goodwin was traveling down a dirt road through wooded private property when he struck a metal cable hanging between two trees.
The cable struck Goodwin in the neck and ejected him off of the dirt bike. He then walked a short way to his house where he told his parents about the accident. 911 was called but his condition began worsening before EMTs arrived. When they did, CPR was performed and Goodwin was transported to the hospital in critical condition.
Goodwin suffered a crushed trachea and two collapsed lungs as a result of the crash.
On Sunday evening, Goodwin was pronounced dead.
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Family speaks after 15-year-old dies in dirt bike accident