Annaliese Backner Parachute, Colorado 11 year old girl dies tripping under school bus she was late for. Incident ruled an accident.
An 11-year-old girl has died in rural Colorado after tripping as she ran to catch her school bus only be run over by its moving wheels.
Annaliese Backner was killed Thursday morning circa 7.30 a.m in the town of Parachute, some 40 miles northwest of Grand Junction.
The Town of Parachute Police Department said Backner was running to catch her yellow school bus before tripping and falling underneath its wheels CBS Denver reported.
Parachute Police and Grand Valley Fire rushed to the scene, where Backner was pronounced dead.
The Garfield County Coroner’s Office determined Backner’s death was an accident after initial investigations. It remains unknown whether police have any footage of the incident.
‘Mental health and grief support for students..’
Backner, who was commonly referred to as Anna, was a sixth grade student at Grand Valley Middle School.
Garfield County School District No. 16, which Grand Valley Middle School is a part of, issued a statement following Backner’s death.
‘Today is a sad day for Garfield County School District No. 16- sad for our schools, sad for our community and sad for our households,’ a released statement said.
‘District 16 has, and will continue to, provide mental health and grief support for students, staff and community.
‘Our primary response moving forward is to honor the family’s privacy and care for students and staff during this tragic loss.
‘This is an ongoing investigation and District 16 is fully cooperating with all agencies involved. We will not be releasing additional information at this time.’
A neighbor in the area told KKCO that they young girl was trailing the bus after it had had already left the bus stop after picking up other children.
‘We’re just all in disbelief,’ Wendy Thibault said. ‘It’s a small community.’
She added that the town will pull together to heal and support the family.
‘I’m thinking about the bus driver, the little girl’s family, all the kids, the first responders,’ Thibault said.
Parachute is a small municipality along I-70 in Garfield County between Rifle and Grand Junction. Its population is of almost 1,400 residents according to U.S. Census data.
