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The mayor of Eudora remembers feeling frightened for his life as a tractor rolled over his head.
Tim Reazin was working on a 1963 John Deere 4010 tractor the afternoon of Oct. 22 on his land about a mile from Eudora when the accident happened.
The tractor needed a new clutch, Reazin said, and he and his sons pushed the vehicle up their driveway so it could be on a flat surface.
The tractor would not turn left so Reazin started its engine and put it in neutral. The tractor sat on the flat surface, immobile.
The engine started to rev up so Reazin reached to push its throttle down hoping it would not rev as high.
“The tractor jerked forward and grabbed my right leg, slammed me to the ground and ran over my right leg,” Reazin said.
At this point, he was stuck under the axle. Reazin said he was able to come out from under the axle, but as he was doing this, a tire from the tractor ran over his head.
Reazin said his 16-year-old son was at the steering wheel when the incident happened.
“He was in the tractor to steer it, but he didn’t know how to turn it off,” Reazin said.
Reazin’s four sons were there to witness this incident. He asked one of them to call the ambulance as another helped him get out from under the tractor.
His son, Nate, was at the wheel and was able to pull the entire front dashboard out from under the steering wheel, which pulled all the wires out and killed the tractor.
Reazin said he called 911 but it gave him the Johnson County dispatch instead of Douglas County. Reazin was able to call the non-emergency dispatch’s phone number because he had it memorized.
Reazin had requested a Medic Unit, but they were unable to locate where he was. His son drove him to the top of the hill on their land, which allowed medic volunteers to tend to Reazin.
The first person on the scene was Tyler Jackson, a Douglas County Sheriff’s deputy. Jackson used to be a volunteer firefighter with Reazin.
Reazin was no stranger to farm equipment, though. He had been around tractors his entire life.
According to the Center for Disease Control, every day, about 100 agricultural workers suffer from a lost-work-time injury, which refers to an injury that results in absenteeism or a delay in the normal workload performed by that employee.
The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs reported that overturns, run overs, entanglement and highway collisions involving agricultural tractors kill approximately 250 people per year and are the leading cause of death and serious injury in agriculture.
In a Facebook post recounting the incident, Reazin said his CT scan came back with no major damage other than a broken ankle and swelling/soft tissue damage.
Physically, Reazin said, he thinks he will be fine. The challenge is getting over what happened to him mentally.
“It’s pretty emotional to think that something like a tractor could have killed you,” Reazin said. “The harder part is thinking that my boys had to see that happen. That’s probably what I’m worried about is just how it’s going to affect them.”
Neighbors, co-workers and other residents have reached out to him and his family following the incident, Reazin said.
“They’re just doing small town family things,” Reazin said. “They’ve brought over food and have offered to help with anything I need.”
People have offered to help put the tractor away and fix it up for sale, too.
“My family would do the same for others in this town,” Reazin said. “It’s just overwhelming. The blessings that you have and the people that call you. You’re reminded that others have gone through this as well and just how fortunate it was to come out the way I did.”
Reach reporter Tatum Goetting at [email protected].
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