Colesburg teen to be honored for saving girl’s life in UTV accident

COLESBURG, Iowa (KCRG) - A 14-year-old from Colesburg is set to receive one of the 2022 Governor’s Lifesaving Awards for his quick action after an UTV accident in Delaware County earlier this year.

March 13, Brody Oberbroeckling was outside in his yard when he saw three girls go by on a UTV. A few minutes later, he heard screaming. He ran to where the UTV had crashed, pinning one of the girls underneath.

“I held the side by side up as much as I could, off her chest, and they called for help,” said Oberbroeckling. He estimated he held the UTV for about 10 minutes.

“After talking with her parents, it was actually confirmed, with her injuries that she—had he not done that—she would have died,” said Austin Zuercher, deputy with the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office.

“I’m just beyond proud,” said Gina Oberbroeckling, Brody’s mother.

She added this is not the first time an ATV or UTV accident has impacted the family.

“We just had a very close friend of the family—their daughter got killed an ATV accident,” said Gina Oberbroeckling. She said she’s been hearing about “a lot of UTV accidents.”

There’s data to back up Oberbroeckling’s anecdote. According to data from the Iowa Department of Transportation, the number of ATV/UTV fatalities so far this year is higher than any annual total from the past five years.

• 2022: 11
• 2021: 4
• 2020: 9
• 2019: 7
• 2018: 5
• 2017: 6

Because of Brody’s actions, the crash in March didn’t have to be added to that list of fatal incidents.

“People just started talking about me a lot,” said Brody Oberbroeckling. That includes state leaders; the ceremony for the 2022 Governor’s Lifesaving Awards where Oberbroeckling will be honored is Friday.

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