Autopsy Links Car’s Air Bag to Death of Boy, 5

An autopsy has implicated an air bag in the death of a 5-year-old boy whose neck was broken when his grandmother’s car bumped into a concrete planter box in a parking lot.

The dual air bags inflated in the Oct. 10 accident, twisting Jordan West’s head, said Val Wilson, North Salt Lake police chief. Medical examiners said “the air bag definitely [was] a cause in the death,” Wilson said Monday.

Lynn Oliver was trying to park the Camaro Z-28 and was driving slowly, Wilson said.

General Motors Corp. spokesman Ed Lechtzin said: “Because we haven’t had a chance to investigate the case or the car, it would be inappropriate to comment.”

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration also plans to investigate. “We felt we needed to know what happened in this incident,” agency spokesman Tim Hurd said Tuesday.

Oliver, 41, said she and the boy, who lived in Bountiful, Utah, were wearing seat belts. Wilson said he has found no evidence to contradict her.