A local man broke his back in three places when his tractor overturned on top of him, trapping him between tractor and plow on Tuesday.
Donnie Morgan was plowing a field that he’d leased for tobacco off of Jack Porter Road when his front wheels, on a slightly higher grade, simply left the ground.
“The wheels of the front end of the tractor were up on the pavement,” said his wife, Annette, Lafayette City Recorder. “He was looking back at the plow, trying to get to where he wanted to be… so when he turned back around, it was coming toward him, the hood of the tractor. He said he didn’t have time to do nothing.
“He said the steering wheel might have crushed his chest but it went on past him; he kind of went to the side and that prevented it from hitting it straight on.”
As it was, Morgan was only able to free himself by slow degrees. A neighbor that was driving by spotted him. “Carol Meador and his wife got out and took him to their house, and he called me,” said Annette.
He was in a lot of pain, and went for medical care. They x-rayed him, gave him pain medication, and sent him home. The next day the pain was so bad that he went to the ER. Finally, a CT scan showed that his back had been fractured in three places.
“He knew it was hurting,” said his wife, “but he didn’t know [it was broken]. They said a lot of times, x-rays don’t show breaks like that. [The doctor] told him that he wanted for him to walk if he can, and he’d rather give him pain medication for him to walk around than to lay or sit, and get stiff. There’s nothing they can do other than just wait for it to get well, I reckon.”


















