MERCER TWP — A 12-year-old boy was killed Sunday in an all-terrain vehicle crash in northern Butler County.

State police are investigating the accident that happened on private property but did not release the youth’s name.

Troopers were called about 4:10 p.m. for the reported accident in a farm field on Wick Road, just off Boyers Road, in Mercer Township.

The boy was eventually taken to Grove City Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said. The Mercer County Coroner’s Office did not immediately return a telephone call this morning.

The boy, who lives on Wick Road, apparently was riding in the field when he crashed between 100 and 150 yards off the road. It was not immediately known if he was riding alone or with others.

A neighbor, who also is a trooper at the state police barracks in Mercer, rushed to help and was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the child when the first of two Superior Ambulance Service crews got there, according to emergency officials.

The boy was unconscious and appeared to have chest injuries, said Douglas Dick, Superior’s EMS chief. The child’s parents showed up after the wreck.

Ambulance paramedics took over CPR, and the life-saving technique continued for an hour even after the boy arrived at the hospital.

The boy was a sixth grader at Slippery Rock Middle School.

Superintendent Alfonso Angelucci said he was well-liked and charismatic. He said that people from the Center for Community Resources, as well as school guidance counselors, psychologists, administrators and teachers are available for students who need them.

The Smith Funeral Home in Slippery Rock is handling arrangements.

The weekend accident marks at least the fifth ATV fatality in Butler County or just over the county line this year.

A 16-year-old boy was killed in an ATV accident Feb. 27 in Fairview Township.

A 58-year-old township man was killed Aug. 29 when the ATV he was riding flipped and landed on top of him in Connoquenessing Township.

And a little north of the Butler County line, a 66-year-old man was killed July 11 when the ATV he was riding flipped and landed on top of him near his family’s farm in Irwin Township, Venango County.

Also just across the county line, a Washington County man was killed and another man was injured Nov. 27 when their ATV crashed into a pond near the Zelienople Airport in Franklin Township, Beaver County.