Parade deaths in U.S. rare but are strikingly similar

The death of an 8yearold boy who was participating in Windsor’s annual Harvest Festival Parade was an accident, according to the Weld County Coroner, but the way he died was not an isolated incident.

For decades, stories appearing in local papers across the country have detailed tragic accidents along parade routes.

A 7yearold boy from Maryland and a 8yearold boy from Oklahoma both died in parade float accidents during 4th of July parades in 2013. An 11yearold girl from Texas and 9yearold boy from New Hampshire both died after being run over during Christmas parades. The stories are strikingly similar. The child either fell or jumped off the float and was run over.

These types of accidents are rare, but they caught the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board after four people died and a dozen others were injured when a train collided with a parade float carrying wounded warriors in Texas in 2012.

Two years later the agency issued a report that found “many communities and organizations across the U.S. don’t conduct risk assessments and implement safety plans.”

The report recommended local governments require written safety plans as part of the parade approval process that would include requirements for driver screening and safe float operation training. It also suggested that the absence of standardization for parade and special event safety across the country is a contributing factor in these accidents.

In Colorado, the requirements are mixed.

Denver doesn’t require a written safety plan or offer guidance to parade drivers.

“However, all eventrelat ed permits and licensing managed by various city agencies include elements designed to ensure safe and compliant events,” Special Events Coordinator Jill Thiare said.

Most of Aurora’s major parades are run by the city, spokesman Michael Bryant said. Everything else requires a temporary use permit that works its way through various city departments.

In their first public statement, the Weld County boy’s parents thanked the community for its support via a video message. Brycen Zerby’s father, Jimmy, said:

“For those in the community that were present at the accident, we know you share in the horror and the pain of the events from Monday morning,” Jimmy Zerby said in the video. “We all saw and heard things that cannot be unseen, and we want to acknowledge the hurt that this entire community is working to overcome.”