Halstead girl killed in bicycle accident
An 8-year-old Halstead girl died Monday after she was run
over by a semi-trailer in downtown Halstead.
Maklya Ritthaler, 8, was riding her bicycle at 10:48 a.m. on
the sidewalk in the area of Second and Main streets in Halstead, Halstead
Police Chief Steven Lewis said.
A semi-truck and trailer driven by James A. Dick of Mount
Hope was turning west onto Second from Main Street, Lewis said.
The bicycle slipped under the back wheels of the truck, and
the truck trailer ran over the girl, said a witness who did not wish to be
identified.
"My granddaughter saw it," the woman said as tears
rolled down her cheek. "She said, "Oh my gosh, that little boy is
going to get hit,"
The woman and her granddaughter later learned the child was
a girl. The woman said she and her family prayed for the girl as law
enforcement officials taped off the Second Street intersection and began the
investigation.
The girl's green twisted bicycle still lay next to a fire
hydrant near the crash scene.
Ritthaler was taken to
Newton Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.
2003 - 2011 (8 years)