MARTINSBURG — An 8-year-old Amish girl was seriously injured when the buggy she was riding in was hit by a truck on U.S. 62 this morning.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said three young girls were northbound at Deal Road, north of Martinsburg, when a tractor-trailer coming up behind them over a hillcrest, started to pass the buggy on the left.
The buggy driver then started a left turn onto Deal Road, and was hit by the truck. The 8-year-old was knocked out of the buggy and fell to the road between the truck’s wheels.
The Bladensburg Fire Department squad, with mutual aid from the Utica Fire Department, blocked the truck’s wheels so they would not move. Rescuers put air bags under the truck that, when inflated, raised the truck off the girl.
A MedFlight helicopter flew her to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Witnesses said the two other girls were not injured. The horse had on scratches from the impact with the right front of the truck.
The truck, from Jolliet, Ill., was loaded with plastic pellets. The patrol said the gross weight of the truck is 72,000 pounds. Crews from Knox County Ohio Department of Transportation blocked off U.S. 62 at Ohio 229 and Ohio 586 in Martinsburg, rerouting traffic through Mount Vernon.
U.S. 62 is expected to be closed for most of the day while a crash re-enactment team from the Ohio State Highway Patrol reconstructs the crash.
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