BRUCE BISHOP / CHRONICLE

Police investigate the scene where a 13-year-old girl was hit by a pickup truck.

ELYRIA — A 13-year-old girl was thrown about five feet in the air and sliced around her midsection after she was hit by a pickup truck Tuesday afternoon.

Amber Johnson was trying to cross East Bridge Street under the railroad overpass at 2:47 p.m. but didn’t make it to the other side, police Lt. Andy Eichenlaub said.

Witnesses said Amber darted halfway across the street and disappeared behind a steel pillar supporting the tracks above.

When she darted out from behind the pillar, she was hit by a southbound 1988 Ford Ranger driven by Craig Davis, 46, of Wakeman, Eichenlaub said.

“All of a sudden, she was in front of me. That’s all I saw. She was just there,” said Davis, who was red-eyed and shaking as he wrote a statement for police.

Steve Kobylski of Elyria was right behind Davis and saw Amber get hit. He said she flew into the air and slammed back against the steel pillar.

“She flew up as high as the hood of my truck,” he said.

Marc Virant, also of Elyria, was riding home from work with Kobylski. He said Amber’s torso caught on a sharp steel plate on the pillar, tearing what looked like a two-inch-deep wound around the left side of her waist and about halfway up her back.

He called 911 immediately.

“She woke up and started wailing,” Virant said. “(Medics) were trying to keep her still, but she was thrashing all around.”

Both Virant and Kobylski said Davis had been driving the speed limit ahead of them and there was no way he could have seen Amber behind the railroad supports.

“She went invisible,” Virant said.

Eichenlaub said Davis wasn’t injured.

Amber was taken to EMH Regional Medical Center and then was flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where she was in critical condition in the intensive care unit early this morning.

Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.

 

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