MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — A Father’s Day weekend was marred by tragedy as two Jones County brothers were killed after a mechanical failure with a participant’s pickup truck caused him to lose control and hit three boys during a mud-bogging event near Milledgeville Saturday night.

One of the boys is being heralded as a hero for helping push a female bystander out of the way, authorities say.

Another boy, a cousin to the two boys killed, was critically injured and taken to The Medical Center at Navicent Health in Macon before he was airlifted by helicopter to a medical facility in Jacksonville, Fla.

The driver of the pickup truck involved in the crash was also injured and required medical attention at Navicent Health Baldwin hospital in Milledgeville. He since has been released.

Authorities have identified the victims killed as Ryan Moore, 14; and his younger brother, Justin Moore, 11, whose post office address lists Macon although they lived in Jones County, according to authorities.

Baldwin County Coroner John Gonzalez said autopsies performed on the victims at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory in Macon Monday morning determined that both died from blunt force trauma.

“It was a terrible, terrible tragedy,” Gonzalez told The Union-Recorder.

Gonzales, along with Chief Deputy Coroner Ken Garland, went to the scene where they pronounced both boys dead at 7:32 p.m. Saturday.

The boy who was critically injured, meanwhile, was identified as Zach Holloway, 11, of Macon. The boy, whose uncle, Michael Holloway is a deputy with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office in Greensboro, sustained two broken legs along with other extensive injuries. He underwent another surgery Monday, authorities said.

The tragedy happened shortly after 7 p.m. at South Creek Mud Boggin,’ located at 2949 Irwinton Road, according to Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee.

The weekend event slated at the popular mud track was advertised on the business website as “Rooster Tail Madness,” featuring three different divisions on Saturday. The divisions included Outlaw, Modified, and Super Stock.

Sgt. David Holland of the Georgia State Patrol post in Milledgeville, who along with Trooper Tyler Easter investigated the double-fatality, talked with The Union-Recorder and a television reporter from Macon at the local patrol post Monday.

Holland said the truck that hit the three boys was driven by 50-year-old Tommy Howell, of McRae.

The veteran trooper said Howell was a participant in the mud-bogging event and that he was driving a 1984 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck.

“One of the participants (Tommy Howell) was actively traveling through the mud pit area, and had finished his run when he had what we believe was a mechanical failure,” Holland said. “That’s what we’ve been told anyway, because spectators said the truck sounded funny, ribbed up high. The driver tried to maintain control of the vehicle as best he could but lost control of the vehicle. He went through the safety area where spectators were located, specifically the deceased and other small children. Unfortunately, the truck struck these individuals before the truck overturned and came to a rest.”

Holland said before Howell got to the cable that he made two steering corrections.

“I’m not sure why; I don’t know if he was trying to decide which way he wanted to exit and I don’t know if he saw the kids prior to and was trying to avoid them,” Holland said. “He made his exit through the corner of least resistance, which was through a fence post and cable. He was already getting sideways at that point. It was after that that the children were struck because they were on the other side of the cable.”

Holland said he went back out to the scene of the crash Monday with troopers assigned to the state patrol’s Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team (SCRT). 

“What I saw this morning is there is a pit area and a large void area with plenty of distance,” Holland said.

He explained that once the participants in certain divisions reach a certain point, they shut down.

“They have that void area to slow down, turn around, and go back to the beginning,” Holland said. “When this truck had its mechanical failure, the driver was unable to stop and went through that voided area trying to maneuver as best he could, but there was no way for him to exit the way he normally does — not at that speed. So, he went through an area roped off by a cable, and the spectators were on the other side of that cable.”

Holland said the owner of the track, David Settle, had been “most cooperative” with him and other troopers.

He said a fourth child — a girl — who was with the three boys at the time, but she was not injured.

“She was luckily pushed out of the way by one of the children, which I found out this morning (Monday),” Holland said, noting the girl was 10.

Asked how Howell was doing, Holland described him as “an emotional wreck” and said he would be living with what happened for the rest of his life.

The trooper declined to comment about any particular injuries that Howell sustained in the wreck but pointed out that Howell was wearing a safety helmet and a four-point safety harness.

“As far as safety goes, he was pretty good,” Holland said.

The trooper said the family of the boys has “our most heartfelt condolences.”

Holland said the parents of the boys killed and the one injured believed the children were behind them — up on a hill when the race started.

“They (kids) normally play football and whatnot,” Holland said. “That’s where we’re uncertain how they got from the hill to the shower area in such a quick method because you can walk the hilltop and come all the way down up a small tree line. We just don’t which path they took at this time.”

Such remains under investigation.

“I hate it happened,” Massee said, noting that he went to the scene after he received the call. “This is just an example of how fragile the life we live in is and how quickly things can happen. The worse thing about the tragedy was having a family lose two sons a day before Father’s Day. I don’t think there was a person at the scene that was not aware of what a tragic event this was.” 

The sheriff explained that no one could make up a scenario worse than this for any family.

“We extremely sorry that it happened, especially here in Baldwin County,” Massee said. “We offer our condolences … to this family. We can’t even comprehend their feeling of loss or tragedy.” 

The sheriff said he planned to visit members of the boys’ family Monday afternoon.

“This was one of the most horrific events that has occurred since I’ve been sheriff,” Massee said. “And I’m sure there were some firefighters/first responders, as well as law enforcement officers, who had never been to a scene as tragic as this one was.”

Massee praised the emergency response personnel who went to the scene to do what they could to help.

“I’m extremely proud of all of them,” Massee said.

The sheriff said he requested the Georgia State Patrol investigate the wreck because on a day-to-day basis they work more fatality type cases than his deputies.

“We felt under the circumstances we needed to have another agency investigate this vehicle crash,” Massee said.