A three-year-old St. Joseph County boy was airlifted to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after his mother accidentally ran over him with a riding lawn mower.

Medics and police officers responded to the 69,000 block of Kenilworth Road, about two miles south of State Road 4 in Union Township, around 12:50 p.m.

Police said the mother was driving the lawn mower with both of her sons when her three-year-old wanted to get off. She let him off and continued to mow with her one-and-a-half-year-old still on the mower.

A short time after, the younger boy began to slip from his mother's grasp on the lawn mower. When she went to grab him, the mower lunged forward and ran over the older boy as he played in the yard.

The three-year-old suffered severe leg injuries and was flown to Memorial Hospital, where doctors stabilized him.

He was then taken in critical condition to Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital for further treatment.

No one else was injured in the accident.