2 years ago
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It's not easy to get back to the scene of the ATV accident. Ricky Clinton was one of the first on the scene. He helped emergency responders get to the victim
Clinton says, "One of the guys who was riding with him, he was here trying to resuscitate him. He didn't make it." Duane Godwin was riding with four others. When they headed up the trail, a cable gate across the trail was down.
When the first riders came back down the trail, the cable was still down. But by the time Godwin rounded a corner, someone had put the cable up.
Judy Daniell of the Garland County Sheriff Department says, "It's a lot of fun and sometimes people just let their guard down. But I'm sure he assumed that it was down when they went in so it was going to be down when they came out, and unfortunately it wasn't."
The cable hit Godwin in the throat and pulled him off the ATV. The ATV came to rest about 100 yards away.
Ricky Clinton says this isn't the first time ATV riders have hit this cable gate. Clinton says, "One incident a boy was riding his four-wheeler through, the cable came up and hit him in the shoulder and dislocated his shoulder. And my niece and my nephew came through and the cable popped up and knocked them off the four-wheeler."
Clinton says these trails are used often by ATV riders. Authorities say it's not illegal for property owners to put up gates or cables. It's up to the riders to keep a sharp eye out for their own well being.
