The Associated Press
ROCHESTER, Wash. —

A Thurston County sheriff’s spokesman says a 4-year-old boy was killed when he fell from a tractor on a sod farm in Rochester, Wash., and was run over.

Lt. Greg Elwin says the boy’s 18-year-old cousin jumped from a forklift and tried to pull the child to safety Thursday evening but could not save him. Elwin says the tractor tire ran over the teen’s arm, possibly breaking it.

The victim was not immediately identified.

Elwin says the 4-year-old was riding on the running board of a sod-cutting tractor being driven by his 7-year-old brother when he either jumped or fell off. A man on a platform at the back of the tractor was stacking chunks of sod on pallets and the teen on the forklift was moving the pallets to a delivery truck.

The spokesman says it apparently was common practice at the farm for everyone to help with the sod harvest.