6-year-old girl hit by pickup truck while waiting for school bus dies at hospital

The child's grandmother, Beatrice Mayson, told WSOC-TV she was holding the girl's hand when she was hit by the truck.

“We were on the sidewalk. Then, I saw the black truck coming," Mayson said. “I tried calling her: ‘Jerrnia! Jerrnia!’ (But) I can’t hear no voice.”

Emergency medical services crews performed CPR on Jerrnia before taking her to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, where she was treated for serious injuries but died later that night.

“I walked across there and talked to the little girl’s sister,” a neighbor said. “She said, ‘My little sister got run over.’ She was crying.”

The little girl attended Heath Springs Elementary School, and school officials told WSOC-TV she waited for the bus at that location every morning with a parent or grandparent.

"We had a child struck by a vehicle (Friday) morning while waiting on the bus on 521 in the Pleasant Hill Community. The child was waiting with a grandmother and the bus had not arrived at the location yet when the accident occurred," the Lancaster County School Disctrict said in a statement. "The child was taken to a Charlotte area hospital and the SC Highway Patrol is conducting the investigation. We have sent school personnel to the hospital and additional counselors to Heath Springs Elementary. We are limited in the amount of information that can be released at this time but please keep the child and all others involved with this accident in your thoughts and prayers."

The school district went back and looked at video from other days and spoke with the bus driver, who said the family usually waited for the bus and once it arrived, they crossed the street to meet it.

On Friday morning, they were at the bus stop about seven minutes before the bus arrived and decided to cross the street earlier than they usually do, authorities said.

Officials said they sent school staff to the hospital and additional counselors to the elementary school.