WESTCLIFFE, Colo.—A 15-year-old girl was fatally injured during a homecoming parade when she tried to climb aboard a moving float but fell under the wheels and was crushed in front of onlookers, authorities said.
Courtney Curtis, a sophomore at Custer County High School, was killed on Friday.
Authorities said she and others had gotten off the float, a flatbed tractor-trailer rig, but Courtney was trying to climb back on when she fell. The truck driver stopped immediately, authorities said.
Courtney was flown to a hospital in Colorado Springs, about 60 miles to the northeast, where she was pronounced dead on Saturday.
“The trauma is overwhelming at this point,” said Barb Jones, secondary principal for the Custer County school district.
The district has a single K-12 school with 522 students.
Jones said Courtney’s mother is a cook at the school cafeteria, and Courtney has three younger siblings who attend middle, elementary and preschool classes.
Classes were canceled Monday but grief counselors were available for students.
Westcliffe, a town of about 460, is 110 miles south of Denver.
