Fourth of July Accident Costs Boy, 8, His Life; Run Over By His Dad

A Fourth of July accident claimed the life of an 8-year-old Oklahoma boy Thursday when he was tragically killed after his father ran him over.

The child had been riding on a Fourth of July parade float with his Tae Kwon Do classmates as part of the 41st annual LibertyFest in Edmond, Okla. His father was driving the truck that was pulling the float, which struck him after he either jumped or fell off it, police investigating the accident said.

"We've been speaking with witnesses," officer James Hamm told NBC's Oklahoma City affiliate, KFOR.com. "Some have said he kind of physically got off and some he looked like he may have fell. So we’re just trying to determine which one of those is accurate."

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A nurse who was in a car behind the trailer reportedly tried to administer CPR but the boy was pronounced dead when he arrived at UC Presbyterian Hospital.

"This is our 41st (Fourth of July) parade on record and we've never had a serious injury before," LibertyFest President Robby Allen told KFOR.com. "To the best of my knowledge we've never had an injury that required medical transportation."

Allen said all necessary safety precautions are taken to avoid accidents like this one.

"All the parade entrants build their own floats, they operate their own floats," he said. "They're required to have licensed drivers in good standing to operate them. They are invited to attend a pre parade briefing if they choose to and then operate safely."

The Fourth of July tragedy was nothing more than a "horrific, unfortunate accident," police said, and no criminal charges will be filed.

"The police department does these events, we work security because we want families to come out here and celebrate the Fourth of July and for everybody to be safe in a fun family atmosphere and it is always that," Hamm told KFOR.com of the Fourth of July accident. "We usually don't have any problems everybody follows the guidelines. Today they weren't really doing anything wrong."

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