Truck Kills Mom - 3-year-old Ok

Christina Cole

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On Friday morning, a big rig hit and killed a woman that was pulling her 3-year-old daughter in a "tot" trailer. The little girl escaped serious injury as well as the older daughter that was also with them.

The accident occurred at 10:02.am at Mercey Springs Road. Police state the big rig was going north on Mercey Springs, making a right turn. The victim has been identified as Lorna Stattelman, 39, but the Merced County coroner's office.

Stattelman died at the scene; her daughter and the bright yellow tot trailer she was riding were pinned underneath the wheels of truck and dragged 100 hundred feet at least. The 3-year-old was taken to Memorial Hospital Los Banos. A small black rubber tire mark is all that she suffered, police said. For the child to be okay and unharmed is a miracle.

Stattelman's 10-year-old daughter was waiting on the corner with her bike and saw the accident. The woman and her two children were wearing helmets. CaliforniaHighway Patrol and Los Banos Police Department are investigating. He said it appeared the woman was crossing or about to cross one of the crosswalks on the corner of the road where they were hit.

Fitchie said the driver of the big rig was taken to the hospital for drug and alcohol tests. "We are not making any assumptions that he was under the influence; it's just procedure when accidents like these happen," Fitchie said.

Police did not release the name of the driver. The big rig is registered to Kevin L. and Georgene Girouard of Girouard and Sons Trucking Inc. in Stevinson. The trucking company was involved in a fatal accident six years ago in Modesto when one of its tractor-trailers collided head-on with a sedan that had drifted into its traffic lane.

Fitchie said the accident was a tragedy but is relieved the child walked away from it without injury.

"I've never seen anything like that," he said.