Girl injured in van accident

Girard

A traffic accident in the Willow Creek parking lot sent an 8-year-old Girard girl to the hospital Thursday afternoon.

The girl was in St. Elizabeth’s Health Center on Thursday night in guarded condition.

The girl was in a parked minivan with a 9-year-old boy when it started to roll backward after the boy moved from the middle seat to the driver’s seat and the parking brake came unlocked, according to a police report.

As the van coasted slowly backward the boy got out of the car through the driver side door without injury, the report states.

The van then hit a curb, turned sideways and began sliding parallel to Interstate 80.

The girl was then thrown from the van out the passenger-side door and became trapped under the passenger-side wheel.

Fire and medical personnel removed her without incident.