Fireworks aimed at teenaged rider
A Waiuku teenager has been left with both of his arms broken after fireworks appear to have been deliberately aimed at him while he was riding his horse.
Jody Albert watched in horror from his truck as the horse carrying his stepson Keanu Halley, 13, hurtled across a paddock before hitting a fence and toppling on to its rider on February 6.
Running to Keanu’s aid, Albert says he could tell both of his stepson’s arms were broken.
‘‘There were these golf ball-shaped protrusions beneath the skin.’’
An ambulance was called to the scene and later hospital X-rays confirmed Keanu’s left wrist was shattered and his right arm broken in four places.
Albert said Keanu recalled fireworks hitting his horse, causing it to bolt in panic.
‘‘He said someone had fired a firecracker at them, it had hit his horse.
‘‘It ran straight for the gate, collided with it, flipped over, and landed on top of him.’’
Keanu was preparing his horse for a show the following Saturday. His stepfather said the injury would take him out of future competitions for most of the year.
His younger brother, Kimorah, 11, was also riding his horse in the field at the time but when his horse panicked due to the sound of the fireworks he managed to grab a nearby tree branch and slide to safety as his horse took off.
Keanu will need surgery to realign his fractured bones.
‘‘He’s on some pretty good drugs but he’s still very sore,’’ Albert said.
He said they’ve spoken to the police and there’s little doubt in his stepson’s mind that fireworks were deliberately aimed at him.
‘‘He says something hit his horse which caused it to bolt . . . we’ve checked on the horse this morning and it’s very spooked.
‘‘[Keanu] says he knows the difference between something like a car backfiring and a firework.
‘‘He’s really shaken up by it.’’