Girl, 4, fatally struck after falling out of mom's SUV in Orange County
ROUGEMONT, North Carolina (WTVD) -- It was a parent's nightmare Friday afternoon, when a 4-year-old girl fell out of her family vehicle and was fatally struck Friday afternoon.
It happened about 3:20 p.m. in a long, private driveway off the 9200 block of NC 57.
The Sheriff's Office said the little girl was run over by the white Chevrolet Blazer driven by the girl's mother.
The mother was leaving to go pick up another child at a bus stop, deputies said. When she put the car in reverse, she noticed the rear door was open and that's when she realized she ran over her daughter.
EMS worked for about 30 minutes but were unable to save the child.
Authorities called it a freak accident. No charges are being filed at this time.
"It's just a sad day for all these folks out here in Orange County," Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood told ABC11. "Life is precious."
Blackwood said the mother had a message for the public:
"Her message to everyone is to hold onto that which is precious to you because it can be taken away in an instant. And you can't get it back," Blackwood said.
The sheriff asked for everyone to say a prayer for the family tonight.
"You know, we do this far too often and I'd say in part, we get numb to it and we do what we've been trained to do, but as soon as it's over with, we have an opportunity to reflect on what we've done," Blackwood said. "When there's a child involved, it's never easy and there's no answers and we want answers. It's just unfortunate that there are no answers in a situation like this."
