Murphy Nichols
My
name is Cynde Nichols. I live in Caldwell, Idaho. I have 3 boys and
3 girls. My family and I were avid atv riders. We own 5 atvs. A suzuki
80, a 250 trail boss, a 400 scrambler, a 425 magnum and a 700 sportsman.
My husband and I have rode atvs for 11 years. My husband and Murphy
were up camping and we were going to meet them in 2 days. They were
riding the 700 sportsman just down the road from camp to see if they
could see fish in the river. Murphy was riding in front on the 700 sportsman
with his dad driving. They slid on some loose gravel and the 4 wheeler
flipped. Throwing my husband and Murphy off. The 4 wheeler landed on
Murphy and he died of Blunt force head trauma. The machine weighed 700
pounds, Murphy weighed 37 pounds. That day we lost our son and our lives.
We really enjoyed riding atvs and went as a family to the hills all
the time. We had no idea how easy these atvs roll over. We have not
rode since the accident. They sit in our garage and remind us every
day that Murphy died while we were supposed to be having fun together
as a family. We have learned the hard way that adult size atvs are not
safe for any of our children. Murphy was three years and 5 months old.
The poster boy for snakes and snails and puppy dog tails. He loved the
outdoors and loved to ride on these machines and that is what they are
machines not toys for our children to play with. Murphy knew how to
start the atvs and he thought he knew how to steer them too. We made
a very bad, uninformed and uneducated decision to let our children ride.
We always supervised our children and never left them alone. Our dealers
never once instructed us about the dangers of letting children ride
and operate these atvs. In fact the dealer help us fit three of our
children who were under the age of 7 with child size helmets knowing
full well they were going to ride on the 700 sportsman that we were
purchasing at that moment.
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