Toddler’s death echoes family tragedy in 2003

NEWRY – The death of a 2 1/2-year-old boy who was run over by his father’s pickup truck at the Sunday River Ski Area was the second accident in four years in which the family lost a toddler.

James Bennett, 42, a Bethel Fire and Rescue worker, was doing maintenance work Sunday on a ski trail behind the Grand Summit Hotel when he sat his son, Wyatt, down on a woodpile while he moved his truck, state police said.

The boy wandered into the path of the vehicle and was crushed by one of its tires, investigators said. Wyatt was dead at the scene.

The family lost another son, 2-year-old Samuel, in 2003 after a freak accident in which he was struck by a tree that his father was cutting down at their house lot in Bethel, Fire Chief Michael Jodrey said.

“Obviously, everyone’s hearts are going out to the family right now,” Jodrey said. “I wouldn’t wish this on somebody once, never mind twice.”