Child Injured in Fall at Little Mulberry Park

An 8-year-old child was injured in a fall shortly after 4 p.m. this afternoon at

According to Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Service public information officer Capt. Tommy Rutledge, the child fell approximately ten feet down a rocky waterfall.

The child was approximately 50 yards off the trail when he slipped and fell striking his head, Rutledge said. An off-duty firefighter was hiking nearby and heard the child’s brother call for help. The firefighter assisted the child until rescue crews arrived.

The technical rescue team was called due to the location of the accident. Rutledge said crews immobilized the child and carried him out of the woods. The child was airlifted to Scottish Rite for treatment of his injuries.

“The child was conscious, was alert, was breathing, was able to talk to firefighters,” Rutledge said.

Due to the potential for a spinal cord injury, firefighters used a long spine board to carry the child out of the wooded area. Rutledge said the rescue was made more challenging due to the fact the accident occurred in a secluded area accessible only by foot.

“They had to walk a tremendous distance to the landing zone, but they were able to extricate through the woods to that helicopter,” Rutledge said.

Rutledge said firefighters do not know why the child was off the path.

“Often times people who leave the beaten path find themselves in harm’s way and that’s what happened today,” Rutledge said.