A mother accidentally ran over her 12-year-old daughter with her car during a middle school drop-off on the first day of the school year, officials in Florida reported.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol and the school district, the incident occurred at about 7:45 a.m. Monday when the mother, 30, dropped her daughter off on the street next to Booker Middle School in Sarasota.
The girl was reportedly getting out of her mom’s SUV on the passenger side when she dropped her markers and pens, officials said. When she bent over to pick up her school supplies from underneath the car, her mom began driving forward without knowing she was there, and the wheels of the SUV struck the girl.
“She immediately stopped when she heard her child screaming,” FHP Trooper Kenn Watson said, per People. “Here we are, day one, and we’ve already had a tragedy. We’re hoping this does not happen again, but we have to remember to have that good spatial awareness when you are anywhere around a school zone and most certainly when you are letting your kid out of your vehicle”.
“You want to avoid being in a hurry and dropping off our kids in the turn lane when we should be directly in front of the school,” he continued, adding, “This is a tragedy that one hundred percent could have been avoided by simply paying a little more attention and not being in a hurry.”
A Sarasota County Schools spokesperson confirmed the accident in an issued statement. “A parent accidentally hit their child as the parent was dropping the child off on the street. The school district encourages all families to follow district & school safety protocols and use the designated student pickup and drop off areas on school campuses,” they said.
The girl was taken to John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg via helicopter with critical injuries, police reported. Her condition on Tuesday was not immediately clear.
