8-Year-Old Boy Critically Injured In ATV Crash

An 8-year-old boy from Watonga was critically injured after his four-wheeler was struck by a pickup truck Thursday afternoon.

According to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, it happened at 4:34 p.m. Thursday on Groat Road, about two miles west and two miles north of Hulbert in Cherokee County.

A 2008 Polaris four-wheeler driven by the boy was southbound from a private drive, crossing Groat Road, when it was hit by a Ford Pickup truck driven by a 34-year-old man. The pickup truck was going east on Groat Road at that time.

The four-wheeler then ran off the roadway to the right and came to rest in the south ditch. The boy was thrown off the vehicle and landed about six feet south of the four-wheeler.

The boy was transported by Eagle-Med to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition with head, trunk, arm, and leg injuries. The pickup driver was not injured in the crash.

Troopers listed the cause of the collision as "fail to yield from private drive" in the OHP collision report. The conditions of the boy and the pickup driver were listed as "apparently normal" at the time of the crash.