A woman leaving a Stillwater clinic Thursday morning apparently forgot about her 1-year-old sitting in a stroller outside and struck the child as she pulled out of a parking space.
Preliminary evidence indicates that the Wisconsin woman helped her other child, a toddler, into a car seat, started the Chevrolet Suburban and drove out of the space when she struck the 1-year-old outside the Stillwater Medical Group Clinic at 1500 Curve Crest Blvd., said Stillwater Police Sgt. Jeff Stender. The child was hit about 10:25 a.m., taken into the clinic and then to Regions Hospital in St. Paul in critical condition.
The stroller was dragged beneath the SUV, which had pulled completely out of the parking space but had not traveled far, Stender said. A witness helped pull the child from the stroller.
Police are investigating the incident with the aid of the State Patrol. Police Capt. Craig Peterson said that neither alcohol nor drugs appear to have been a factor.
"By all the information we have thus far, this appears to be an extremely horrible, tragic accident," Stender said.
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