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NORTH WEBSTER - A North Webster boy is in serious condition with a skull fracture after a tree fell on him near his residence.
Tyler Lee Herbst, 5, of North CR 1000E, North Webster, was airlifted from his residence to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne after the 10:17 a.m. accident. The child was unconscious at the scene and bleeding from the open wound on the back of his head.
According to Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department officials, Tyler was standing off to the side of a tree that his father, Eric Herbst, was cutting down. As the 14-inch diameter tree began to fall, the base of the tree "kicked out" and the tree began to fall toward Tyler.
Tyler started to run away from the falling tree in the direction the trunk was coming to the ground. Eric Herbst told police he ran toward his son in an attempt to pull him out of the path of the falling tree, but he lost his grip on the child's shirt. After Tyler was hit by the tree, his father picked him up and carried him to the house, where Eric Herbst called 911.
When paramedics arrived on the scene, they found Tyler face down in a bedroom, where Eric Herbst was applying pressure to the wound.
The accident occurred about one-quarter mile from the Herbst residence and the tree that struck Tyler was 16 to 18 feet tall. The top portion of the tree hit the child and authorities said Tyler was nearly out from under the tree when the impact occurred.
The Samaritan helicopter landed at Camp Adventure, which is across the street from the Herbst residence.
