Sunday, March 21, 1999

A Keithville teen-ager was fighting for his life at LSU Medical Center early Sunday after Caddo Parish Sheriff’s deputies and fire district personnel pulled him from his pickup truck that had been submerged in a water-filled roadside ditch beside Keithville-Keatchie Road.

Brandon Christopher Hardey, 16, of 6336 Vardaman Road in Keithville, was listed in "very critical" condition in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at 2:45 a.m. Sunday. His 15-year-old sister Holli, who was with him in the 1998 Ford pickup truck at the time of the accident, was treated and released from Willis-Knighton South Hospital.

Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Jay Morgan said Hardey was driving the pickup truck southbound on Keithville-Keatchie Road about three miles from Old Mansfield Road when he apparently lost control and went into the ditch.

Morgan said Holli Hardey was able to get out of the truck, but her brother was unable to get out. When Morgan and Sheriff’s Deputy Greg Sims arrived at the accident scene, they went in the chest-deep water to try to pull Hardey from the truck. With the assistance of personnel from Caddo Fire Districts 4 and 6, the deputies were able to remove Hardey, who had no vital signs at that time.

Fire district emergency medical personnel managed to revive Hardey at the scene, and the Life Air Rescue helicopter transported him to LSU Medical Center. Holli Hardey was taken to Willis-Knighton South Hospital by Balentine Ambulance Service.

ADDENDUM: Brandon Christopher Hardey died at about 1 p.m. Monday, March 22, 1999.