16-year-old girl hospitalized after getting hit by semitrailer near Newkirk High School

By Jason Burger

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    NEWKIRK, Oklahoma (KOCO) — A 16-year-old girl was rushed to the hospital after she was hit by a semitrailer outside of Newkirk High School.

KOCO 5 learned she was walking on the crosswalk from the high school to a nearby Sonic Drive-in.

“About that time, we may have had an idea that it was a Newkirk student because they’re allowed to leave campus. There’s a Sonic across the street,” said Adam Longcrier, the Newkirk fire chief.

The chief said the student is in the hospital after she was hit outside of her own school. It was a sinking feeling for firefighters, who all have children in the local school district.

“She was talking, which is good to us because it means her airway is still good,” Longcrier said.

The details from witnesses were hard to hear.

“Witnesses at the scene told us that the front tires had gone over the patient, but we didn’t have to extricate her. She was free,” Longcrier said.

The chief said she had ban injuries to her head, hip and torso. A video was sent to KOCO 5 by a witness showing the medical helicopter landing on the football field to airlift her to a hospital in Wichita, Kansas.

“The crews gave her care until they lifted off and transported her to a trauma center in Wichita,” Longcrier said.

Because the girl is a minor, her identity has not been released, but fire staff said she is expected to survive. It was a tough incident for a town so tight-knit.

“She’s a part of the cheerleading squad and all that, and that group of kids were just here doing a fundraiser. They stopped by the fire station to sell baked goods,” Longcrier said.

The school district said the superintendent of Newkirk Public Schools made the trip to Wichita to check on the student. At last check, she was in critical condition but alive.

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