Lang
9/5/25
The driver of a Keokuk County hayrack ride that injured 13 children has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
On Friday, 36-year-old Daniel Brubaker was sentenced to three ten-year prison sentences and ten five-year sentences. As part of a plea deal reached in July, each set of sentences will run concurrently, but will run consecutive to each other.
According to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, Brubaker and 33-year-old David Heady were in a truck pulling a hayrack ride filled with 30 children in October 2023. Both had been drinking heavily before the ride and while driving the truck. Brubaker lost control and drove the truck into a ditch, injuring more than a dozen children.
Heady, a former Keokuk County sheriff’s deputy, was convicted on 13 counts of child endangerment on Tuesday. Sentencing is scheduled for October 17th. Heady could face up to an 80-year prison sentence.