Girl Killed in Christmas Parade Float Accident Identified
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Beaumont police have identified a girl who was run over by a trailer during a Christmas parade this weekend as 11-year-old Aaliyah Carter.
Witnesses told police Aaliyah jumped off a 21-foot lowboy trailer float on Saturday. She had been running along beside it and apparently lost her footing and fell.
Authorities say the wheels of the trailer ran over her, causing severe head trauma. Aaliyah was taken to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital, where she was pronounced dead Saturday night.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She was in the fourth grade at Homer Drive Elementary School, where she was captain of the drill team, historian of the student council and an honor roll student.
"To know her is to love her," said Charisma Popillion, a school official, told Beaumont television station KFDM.
School counselors were planning to meet Monday to discuss how to help students deal with the tragedy. Some of Aaliyah's classmates on the parade float saw the accident.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Officers initially said she was 10-years-old, but now say Aaliyah was 11.