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13-year old Alabama girl dies in Polaris ATV rollover
July 31st, 2009 by Kurt Niland
A 13-year-old Alabama girl died earlier this month when the Polaris ATV she was riding in rolled over. Emily Dunnam, a resident of Fairhope, Ala., had been visiting relatives in another part of town when the accident occurred. Her cousin was driving the ATV across a field to see some horses that belonged to a neighboring family. Authorities said that the driver could have turned too sharply, causing the vehicle to pitch. Dunnam hit her head when the ATV toppled. Family members tried unsuccessfully to revive her at the scene while waiting for emergency responders to arrive, but it was too late.
Dunnam was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities say she likely died instantly. Her cousin was sent to Thomas Hospital in Fairhope with minor injuries and released the same day.
Dunnam was a student at Fairhope Middle School. She left behind her parents, Bill and Beverly Dunnam, her brother Brandon, who graduated from Fairhope Middle in 2007, and a community of family, neighbors, teachers, and friends who mourn her absence.
Fairhope Middle principle Deandra Lamar Powe told the Mobile Press-Register that Dunnam loved playing sports and being outside. She could always be seen in the neighborhood riding her skateboard and running around with friends.
“She was a born athlete,” Powe told the Press-Register. “And she was so much more than that. She was a child who came forward and said ‘Can I help?’ She helped with so many things at our school.”
Powe also said that Dunnam, an honor-roll student, was one of many applicants chosen to assist in the front office of Fairhope Middle because she was so responsible and mature for her age.
“A loss like this is one of those things that you can’t understand, and you just know God has a better place for her,” Powe told BaldwinCountyNow.com.
