The mother of an eight-year-old boy struck by a golf cart during the Damariscotta-Newcastle Memorial Day parade May 28 said her son is fine and recuperating at home.
Theo Crocetti, 8, of Damariscotta, was one of four Cub Scouts from Pack 213 struck by a golf cart operated by Frazier Hart, 55, of Newcastle, during the parade.
According to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the accident occurred after Hart appeared to lose control of the golf cart he was operating on Mills Road around 11:08 a.m.
At press time, the investigation remains ongoing. LSCO Lt. Michael Murphy said the findings will be turned over the District Attorney’s office, which will make a determination on what charges, if any, will be filed.
Alcohol and drugs are not believed to be contributing factors, Murphy said.
Of the four cub scouts struck by the cart, only Crocetti required hospitalization. The others were treated at the scene.
Crocetti was pinned underneath the golf cart, which was lifted off of him by parade participants and observers. He was transported by ambulance to Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta where he was treated and released around 5 p.m. the same day.
Since the accident Theo’s mother Stacie Crocetti said phone calls and emails of concern and support have been pouring in nonstop.
“It’s a great community,” Stacie Crocetti said. “It really is despite our difficulties, politically or whatever; whenever something happens everybody is there for each other. I feel like I have been taking care of the whole community as well as my son.”
Crocetti said she expects her son will likely remain home for the rest of the week. Theo sustained significant bruising, cuts and road rash on his upper body area, Stacie said. “He’s fine,” Stacie said, adding, “he is pretty banged up.”
“His spirits are really good,” Crocetti said. “He was terrified yesterday (May 28). Every time he hurt, I noticed he was saying ‘I’m scared. I’m scared,’ instead of ‘I hurt,’ but he is in excellent spirits. You almost wouldn’t know he was in an accident.”
Crocetti said she was at home when she got word of the accident, which occurred on Mills Road in Newcastle.
“My husband (Al Crocetti) had taken him over to The Lincoln County News (the parade staging area and starting point) to drop him off along with the rest of the cubbies,” she said. “Then Al drove downtown to get a cup of coffee and watch the parade. I didn’t go, which ended up being a good thing. I was at home when I got the call that he (Theo) was in an ambulance on his way to the hospital.
“I jumped in the car and went right there. Poor Al, he was downtown, he couldn’t even get there. The sheriff flagged down a fire truck so Al could get a ride to the hospital.”
Stacie said Al fielded a phone call from someone who was aware of the accident. Al starting making his way toward the accident scene before catching a ride with a fire truck heading in the other direction, toward the hospital.
At this time the Crocettis are not considering legal action. Stacie said she believes the accident is just that – an accident.
“It was an accident; that is why we call them accidents,” she said. “They are unplanned. Everybody woke up yesterday with good intentions and making decisions based on those good intentions and wanted to provide an experience that was memorable. Accidents happen everyday. I hope Theo marches in the parade next year, at the Pumpkinfest, or the next time they have one.”
Parade organizer Stanley Wall of Damariscotta said he was very disturbed by the accident. Wall didn’t see the crash personally but did see the aftermath.
Wall said organizers will convene a meeting before next year and try to come up with new rules and regulations to improve safety.
The crash is the second consecutive parade in the Twin Villages area to suffer an accident. On Oct. 8, 2011, a Kora Shriner was killed while performing a stunt in a go-kart in Main Street during the Pumpkinfest parade.
Of particular concern in this case, Wall said, is the mental capacity of the driver, Hart. Declining further comment, a representative of the Hart family confirmed Frazier Hart has Down Syndrome.
According to eyewitness Caryn Embury, the blame for the accident, if any, should go to an unidentified woman riding with Hart in the golf cart. LCSO has declined to release the woman’s name.
According to Embury, Hart was driving at a reasonable speed until the Cub Scouts stopped in front of him and “he couldn’t or didn’t know how to stop [the cart].”
The woman told Hart to stop and, when he didn’t, she tried to hit the brake herself and hit the gas pedal instead, Embury said, adding, “that’s when it sped up.”
Embury said she watched as the golf cart plowed into a little boy. She turned away, she said, but heard a mother who was walking with the Cub Scouts start screaming.
“Knowing what had happened in the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest parade, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” she said.
Embury said she has seen television reports that blame Hart for the accident and the boys’ injuries. She said the blame lies with Hart’s caregiver and/or family, not Hart himself.
“He was mentally handicapped,” she said. “He shouldn’t be taking the blame for something his mother or caregiver should have known about…He had no idea what he was doing and even after the fact I don’t think he had any idea what had happened.
“She [the caregiver or relative in the passenger seat] was hollering at him to stop and he was looking down at the pedal not knowing what to do,” she said.
Embury said her daughter, nieces and nephew were watching the parade with her. The incident was upsetting for the children and her niece said she never wants to be in a parade again, Embury said.
Embury said bystanders Michael Benner and Josh Hannan lifted the golf cart off the boy.
Other known bystanders helping out included Lincoln County Publishing Co., (parent company of The Lincoln County News) owner Chris Roberts, a Troop 213 Assistant Scout Master, who was struck by the golf cart, and Edgecomb Selectmen Stuart Smith who was walking in the parade as part of his campaign for the Republican nomination for the Senate District 20 seat.
According to Stacy Crocetti, Theo really wants to thank Damariscotta resident Seth Hagar for his help. Theo started asking for Hagar before he was out of the hospital, Stacie said.
“Seth Hagar apparently played a huge role in the whole scene,” she said. “Theo really wanted to thank Seth…He was just watching the parade and he went into action and he organized getting the cart off [Theo] and then did the medical exam until the ambulance got there.”
Tiger Den mother Melanie Osier Gilbert who was walking with the scouts, and whose son Nolan sustained road rash to both legs and an elbow in the accident, said she hopes something is learned from this accident that improves parade safety in the future.
“Hopefully something is learned from this because I will never walk in a parade in front of anything but a police car,” Osier Gilbert said.
