Mother of boy trampled by bull: 'It was nobody's fault'
By Vanessa Miller (Contact)
Originally published 10:26 a.m., June 29, 2009
Updated 10:26 a.m., June 29, 2009
LONGMONT, Colo. — The mother of a 12-year-old boy who died Sunday after being thrown off a bull during the Longmont Elks Little Britches Rodeo said her son loved riding bulls and she cherishes the joy he experienced competing with his 10-year-old brother.
Richard Wayde Hamar, of Yuma, was riding a bull during the Little Britches competition about 11 a.m. when the bull threw him off and stomped on his chest and stomach, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office. He was wearing a helmet and vest, said his mother, Angie Hamar, who was in the audience with her husband, Mitch Hamar, and their younger son, Zach Hamar.
"It was nobody's fault," Angie Hamar said. "It could have happened on a horse as easily as it did riding his bull."
Wayde and Zach have competed in rodeos for much of their lives, Hamar said.
"That's what that kid lived to do," his mother said.
Despite Sunday's tragic accident, Hamar said, she wouldn't have done anything different.
"You can't keep your kids locked up in a closet," she said. "There are some kids who take motocross racing, and we take our kids rodeo riding."
Wayde's brother Zach is having a "hard time" after watching his brother's accident, Hamar said. But, she said, he still wants to compete in the National Little Britches Finals at the end of July in Peublo.
"There are two events that he was partners with his brother," she said. "It's going to be really hard."
Longmont Emergency Unit paramedics were at Sunday's event in Longmont and provided medical care to Wayde until he could be taken to Longmont United Hospital. He died from his injuries a few hours later.
In its fifth year, the two-day rodeo event is for children ages 8 to 18 and includes bull riding and calf roping.
"We just want to make sure nothing negative is said about the sport of rodeo or bull riding," Hamar said.