Tree Cut By Dad Falls, Kills Son

HASTINGS TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A 6-year-old boy has died after a tree being cut down by his father, who was clearing an 80-acre field for farming in Barry County, landed on him, police said.

The child was about 50 feet from the base of the tree that his father was cutting with a chain saw Saturday afternoon when he was struck, Michigan State Police Trooper Phil Vannette said Sunday.

"It's just a horribly tragic accident," Vannette said.

The father had told his son and a 9-year-old girl who is a family friend to stay inside a truck several hundred feet away from where he was cutting at the field in Hastings Township, Vannette said.

A pile of brush was being burned in the field, Vannette said, and the boy got out to warn his father the fire had spread to some grass. Police said the father wasn't aware that his son had left the truck.

"The dad didn't see him," Vannette said.

The father called 911 and attempted to revive the boy, who was taken to a hospital in nearby Hastings and pronounced dead, Vannette said. Hastings is located about 30 miles southeast of Grand Rapids.

Names weren't being released, Vannette said.

An autopsy was planned. Although the death appeared to be an accident, Vannette said reports from the medical examiner's office and police were to be forwarded to the prosecutor's office for review.

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