Two children were killed and three people were injured in an accident involving a John Deere backhoe near Roanoke Saturday night.
The accident happened at around 7:30 p.m. in the 1600 block of Chapel Hill Court in Denton County, about three miles west of Roanoke, according to Lonny Haschel, a public information officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Highway Patrol troopers were called to the scene, where they determined multiple children and adults had been riding on various moving parts of the backhoe, he said.
“While in motion, the driver of the backhoe operated equipment causing the front bucket to dump and occupants riding in the bucket, fell to the ground,” Haschel said.
Two children, ages 7 and 11, were run over by the backhoe and died at the scene. Two other children suffered injuries and were transported to local trauma centers for treatment. One adult was also transported to an area trauma center with serious injuries.
The driver of the backhoe, Vijender Chauhan, 40, from Crowley, was uninjured. Chauhan was arrested by the highway patrol and booked into the Denton County Jail on two counts of manslaughter, three counts of endangering a child and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram identified the children as Shivraj “Raj” and Sonakshi Chauhan who were students at Trinity Valley School in southwest Fort Worth.
Haschel said the accident investigation is ongoing.
