Parents Share Story of Accidentally Backing Over and Killing Their 18-Month-Old Son

Two months after Brian Bayers accidentally hit his 18-month-old son while backing his truck into the driveway, the parents are speaking out about this unthinkable tragedy — and hoping to spread awareness for others.

On a cold February morning in Taylorsville, KY, father Brian went to warm up his truck and back it into the driveway before taking baby Jackson to day care. Brian's wife, Amanda Bayers, had already gone to work, and Brian thought he could leave Jackson in the house for a minute. After backing up the truck, Brian went inside to get Jackson, only to discover he was nowhere to be found. Brian has no idea how Jackson made it out of the house, but when the father went back outside, he saw his son on the driveway — he had been hit as Brian backed up, and Brian had not seen him once as he looked behind him.

The parents talk about how careful they were with Jackson, keeping anything potentially harmful out of the rambunctious toddler's sight. "I worried every night I got home — I carry around change in my pocket — I would get down on my hands and knees. I'd look for dimes, pennies I might have dropped," Brian told Kentucky's Wave 3 News.

"You always think 'this can't happen to me,' but, it can," said Brian, who won the election for Spencer County magistrate in November with Jackson at his side.

Brian and Amanda took the brave step to speak out about their story and worked with KidsAndCars.org, a nonprofit child safety organization dedicated to preventing injuries and death to children in and around motor vehicles. The site's statistics reveal how common these accidents are, especially in vehicles with large blind spots: at least 100 children are killed each year as the result of a nontraffic-related motor accident.

"If we can save one child's life by this and prevent one family from the kind of devastation that we have faced, that will be his legacy," Brian said.