A driver revving the engine of a pickup with a passenger beside him threw the truck into reverse and plowed into two girls, killing an 8-year-old, witnesses in Greeley told 9News.
Police arrested a 15-year-old suspected of being the driver.
The truck also seriously injured a 9-year-girl in the hit-and-run incident Monday afternoon, according to 9News.
The TV station gave this account:
Greeley police said one of the girls was on a scooter and the other was on a bike when they were hit by a red Dodge pickup truck at East 25th Street Road and Arbor Avenue just before 4 p.m.
Both girls were taken to North Colorado Medical Center where one died around 4:30 p.m. The other girl was flown to The Children’s Hospital in Denver.
Police found the truck believed to have hit them and said they arrested a 15-year-old boy at 5:30 p.m. who is believed to have been the driver.
The names of the victims and the suspect were not immediately released.
One of the girls’ neighbors, identified only as Laurie, said she saw the incident from her kitchen window. She said “a couple of kids” were playing in the truck and revving the engine.
“I saw the kids out there. I thought, ‘There’s no way he’s going to back up.’ And he threw it in reverse, and he just plowed over those girls,” she said.
Laurie said she called 911 and sat with the mothers as they waited for paramedics.
“I think it’s horrible. I think it’s terrible. I can’t imagine that you would do that,” she said. “I think they were just messing around, trying to show off. But still it’s senseless.”
“You could just see it on their faces; they were going to do something dumb,” said Antonio Lechuda, another neighbor.
“Don’t give the keys to any kid just because they know how to drive.”
A witness who saw the license plate helped police find the truck.
Neighbors said the two girls are cousins and that their mothers, who are sisters, live in the same house.
