A 6-year-old boy died in a UTV accident while riding with his grandmother

WHITEWRIGHT, Texas (KXII/Gray News) – A family is mourning the loss of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in a UTV accident earlier this month.

Colten Thompson-Winquist was riding a UTV on November 16 with his “Grandma Jal” when they collided.

“They were following a trail to the lake that they had followed a million times,” Jeffrey Jackson said. “For some reason they hit the embankment, that’s what I was told, and it rolled, it fell out, it rolled.”

Jackson and Melissa Caffrey have been caring for Colten since he was 4 months old.

Caffrey said Colten died without feeling any long-term pain.

“The coroner said he died of blunt force trauma to the head,” she added. —I didn’t make any sound. He didn’t wake up. He went from sitting next to Grandma Jal, living happily ever after, to heaven.”

Jackson and Caffrey said they enjoyed their time at Colten and have just joined the Scouts.

They say that before he died, Colton asked, “Where will you go if you die?”

“He started saying things like, ‘I want to go to heaven.’ And I said, “Well, buddy, it’s going to be a long time when you get old, but you’ve got to stay here.” And he said, “Yes, but it’s beautiful and peaceful.” I asked, “Where does this come from?” Caffrey said.

Jackson and Caffrey are mental health counselors for the school district and currently benefit from the advice they often give to others.

“We always tell our clients this, feel your feelings, let them out and never try to hold them in,” Jackson said. “We also have to tell ourselves that life has to go on in order to get out of bed and do these things.”

They say that Jal’s grandmother, the driver of the accident, is devastated.

“He apologizes every time he sees us,” Caffrey said. “It’s very similar to survivor’s guilt: ‘Why not me?’ Why wasn’t it me? Why couldn’t I have gone the other way?”

The family donates to their own GoFundMe will help fund Colten’s funeral and give him more time to grieve before returning to work.