Ill. Boy, 3, Injured After Being Run Over by ‘Industrial-Style Lawnmower’

A 3-year-old boy in Illinois was critically injured after he was run over by an “industrial-style lawnmower” on Saturday, Aug. 30, according to local police.

Around 12:40 p.m. local time, the Cary Fire Protection District responded to the 28700 block of West Kristy Lane for a reported “traumatic injury involving a child,” according to a press release from the department shared with PEOPLE.

It is there that paramedics determined the boy had been “run over by an industrial-style lawnmower,” resulting in a “serious lower extremity injury,” per the press release.

Before first responders arrived, a neighbor had applied a makeshift tourniquet to help control the bleeding. Once on the scene, paramedics immediately continued lifesaving efforts before loading the boy into an awaiting ambulance, CBS News Chicago reported.

The ambulances transported him to a local hospital’s helipad before he was airlifted by a medical helicopter to Loyola University Medical Center in critical condition, the press release explains.

As of Sunday, Aug. 31, he remained hospitalized at an unspecified ICU in Chicago, where doctors stabilized him, said the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, per CBS News Chicago.

An initial investigation showed that the incident was a “tragic accident,” the outlet reported, citing the sheriff’s office.

It is believed that the boy was riding the lawnmower with his father, deputy chief with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Christopher Covelli, said, according to The Daily Herald.

Covelli also told Patch that it “appears the mower requires operators to be in a standing position.”

“We believe the child was initially in front of the operator. The operator of the mower began to reverse, and the child either fell off or jumped off. Unfortunately, the mower deck rolled over one of the child’s legs, causing major injuries,” he said.

He explained to The Daily Herald that the incident “serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of lawnmowers and children and the fact that a child should never be riding on a lawnmower when it’s operational.”

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PEOPLE reached out to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for comment.