A 16-year-old female resident of the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville died Friday morning from head and leg injuries after being run over Thursday evening by the mowing deck of a lawn tractor operated by another resident.
Alisha Merick and two other female residents were mowing the juvenile correctional facility’s yard using three lawn tractors. Merick and one of the other residents had stopped to look at one of the tractors that had a hydraulic mowing deck when the accident occurred about 6:15 p.m., said Nic Howell, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.
“The victim was standing next to the tractor,” Howell said. “When the other girl moved that tractor, the rear tire went over [Merick] and pushed her through the grass cutter.”
Howell said the incident appeared to be an accident, but officials are investigating.
Merick was pronounced dead at 6:45 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The other two girls, whose names were not released, were not injured.
A youth supervisor witnessed the incident and called 911. Merick died at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood after doctors spent hours trying to save her.
Merick was sent to the facility in January after she was convicted of aggravated battery of a person over 60 years old, Howell said. She was sentenced in Kankakee County on Jan. 20 and arrived in Warrenville on Jan. 25. Howell said he did not know how close Merick was to being released or if she had yet met with a parole board.