Maine

Broken badminton racket kills NJ girl vacationing in Maine

Lucy Morgan's father, a New Jersey pastor, documented her time in the hospital in Maine

NBC 5 News

A 6-year-old girl on vacation in Maine was accidentally killed by a broken badminton racket while playing with her brother last week, police said.

The aluminum shaft of the racket came off the handle and hit the girl, identified as Lucy Morgan, in the head Saturday at about noon, while she was playing with her older brother. It pierced her skull, Maine State Police said Friday.

Lucy was rushed from the home in Limerick, a town west of Portland, to a nearby hospital, then flown to Maine Medical Center, but she died Wednesday, police said.

The injury was unintentional and an accident, according to police, who wrote in a statement, "The Maine State Police would like to extend their deepest condolences to the Morgan family," who they said was from Stockholm, New Jersey.

Lucy's father, a pastor at a church in Rockaway, New Jersey, documented her time in the hospital on his blog.

"After significant thorough testing and even more repeated tests to be certain, brain death was declared 1:32am on June 5, and her heart stopped beating around 4am. Lucy was with Jesus," her father, Jesse Morgan, wrote.

He also shared that his wife had given Lucy a prayer journal last month that, after her death, they found in her backpack. The first entry read, "God is so amazing and He si the true God and He created everything and He died on the cross for our sins."

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Lucy's father commented, "It’s almost as if God was writing with her, drawing her to himself. How a six year old journals like this is beyond me."

The Morgans' church, Green Pond Bible Chapel, said they were holding a service of mourning for Lucy June 15, and Pastor Ryan Boys wrote a letter to the community Wednesday reflecting on the loss.

"As hard as this is for the Morgans, they are not weeping or walking alone," he concluded.

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