CORNING — A 25-year-old Fairfield County man died on Saturday, June 1 in an apparent accident while riding as a passenger in a “side by side” off-road vehicle in the Tecumseh Trail ATV park in Corning.
According to a report by Perry County Coroner Dr. Bradley C. Wilson, it appears that David Joseph Lefever was killed when the Polaris 1000 Ranger ATV he was riding in flipped over, ejecting him and pinning his head underneath its roll bar.
The report says that the vehicle was being driven by its owner, Wyatt May, who reported that it had been performing well before the accident, and also after it was driven away from the scene.
Wilson was alerted by Perry County 911 that there had been an accident with a single fatality in the ATV park. A call to 911 had been made at 11:51 a.m., by a man who reported an ATV rollover accident and an unresponsive male about a half mile from the parking area.
According to Wilson’s report, witnesses who had come upon the scene of the crash had found the ATV lying on its passenger side, “on an upgrade of the deeply wheel-rutted dry trail.”
Wilson was told that Lefever had been unrestrained and not wearing a helmet. “Apparently the first persons on the scene had some medical knowledge and quickly determined Mr. Lefever to have unsurvivable injuries after the Polaris was moved off the body,” the coroner’s report states.
When Wilson examined Lefever’s body, he observed bleeding from the mouth, nose and ears, as well as “unusual hypermobility” of the upper cervical spine. His report suggests that Lefever probably sustained a basilar skull fracture as well as a high cervical spine fractures, injuries that “would result in immediate death.”
Based on evidence at the scene, Wilson surmised that the ATV had been traveling up a grade of about 10 degrees when it rolled over.
Wilson ruled the death accidental, a result of blunt force trauma to the head, with the primary contributing factors being “that he was unrestrained and not wearing a helmet.”
The report adds that Lefever was reportedly taking the prescription drug warfarin at the time of the crash, which Wilson confirmed would cause him to bleed more copiously — though the coroner said Tuesday that with the seriousness of his injuries, this factor likely made little difference.
Wilson suggested the tragic death highlights the need to use the four-point harness that’s typically available on ATVs, and to wear a helmet. “I’ve seen this too many times,” he said — accidents that, had the person been restrained and helmeted, might have resulted in bruises and scrapes, but that without the use of safety equipment, were far more serious.
Email at jphillips@perrytribune.com
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