Backpack caught in door, Florida school girl dragged to her death
Associated Press
MARIANNA, Fla. - An 11-year-old girl died Wednesday of injuries suffered when her backpack got caught in a school bus door and she was dragged by the vehicle before falling free and being crushed by its tires.
Shelby Davis died a day after her father rushed her to a hospital after watching her get run over by the right rear tires of her school bus, Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Hugh Cutchens said.
Shelby was among 14 children, ages 5-16, being dropped off Tuesday by driver Harold Dean McCouty at a school bus stop near her rural home, an FHP report said.
McCouty failed to notice that the girl's backpack was hung up in the bus door and began driving away, the FHP report said.
The bus went 60 feet before Shelby was "dislodged" from her backpack and the bus ran over her pelvic area, the report said.
McCouty, 63, drove on for 1,600 feet - more than 1/3 of a mile or more than four football fields - before noticing that a backpack was stuck in the door, the report said.
He stopped the bus to locate the child, but her father, Mike Davis, had seen the accident from his front yard and had already scooped his daughter up to take her to a Jackson Hospital, the Jackson County Floridan reported. She was later airlifted to Shands University Hospital in Jacksonville, where she died.
Charges were pending the result of an investigation, Cutchens said.
