HOOLEHUA, Hawaii » A 4-year-old Molokai boy was in stable condition after his grandfather accidentally ran over him with a tractor, police said Thursday. 

Elijah Huff Jr. was riding on the tractor driven by his grandfather, Walter Mendes, on Wednesday near the Molokai Airport, Maui police said. 

The boy stepped off the tractor when it stopped and Mendes tried to reach for him. But his foot slipped off the clutch, causing him to run over his grandson, police said, adding that it was an accident. 

The boy broke his arm and was preparing to be transferred to a children’s hospital in Honolulu, said Mendes’ wife, Kathleen. Mendes was at his grandson’s hospital bedside, she added. 

"He’s talking," she said of Elijah. "He’s already telling his story. He’s doing really, really well." 

The boy loves riding the tractor with his grandfather, who was moving it on the family’s property at the time, she said. The family grows native dryland shrubs and trees.