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BUCKHANNON – A four-year-old child who was playing on Barbour Street last week was life-flighted to J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital after a vehicle struck her when she ran into the road.
According to investigating officer Cpl. Marshall O’Connor with the Buckhannon Police Department, the accident happened at 4:25 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, on Barbour Street.
O’Connor said the child had been playing prior to the incident.
“She was running across the street, just playing on Barbour Street,” O’Connor told My Buckhannon Tuesday. “Her mom’s vehicle had the trunk up, and she came running around the back side of the vehicle. The striking car did not have enough time to stop.”
“This was all provided on surveillance footage,” he added.
According to the accident report, the child did not check for traffic prior to running around the back of a parked vehicle, where she was hit by the front driver side of a red 2008 Suzuki XL7, being driven by Veronica Tenney, 53, of Buckhannon.
O’Connor said the child’s mother transported her to WVU Medicine St. Joseph’s Hospital, and from there she was life-flighted to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown with a possible skull fracture.
“I have not heard whether they were definite on that or not yet,” O’Connor said.
The names of juveniles involved in motor vehicle accidents are not usually released publicly, and police chief Matt Gregory said the BPD would be unable to obtain a status update on the child’s condition due to privacy laws – specifically, HIPPA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
O’Connor said after reviewing footage taped via a doorbell security camera from a residence on Barbour Street that Tenney, the driver, was not speeding and appeared to be obeying all traffic laws.
“The driver was not cited,” he said Tuesday. “The driver didn’t do anything wrong.”
O’Connor said he was paged directly to St. Joseph’s Hospital following the accident.
In addition to Tenney, a 16-year-old passenger was riding in the vehicle at the time of the incident.
