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Girl, 4, miraculously uninjured after getting run over by golf cart as dog presses on accelerator

The fire department’s dog ‘jumped onto the floor and laid down, laying across the accelerator pedal’

Kelly Rissman
Monday 07 August 2023 18:11 BST
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A fire department dog accidentally ran over a child by pressing on the accelerator of a golf cart
A fire department dog accidentally ran over a child by pressing on the accelerator of a golf cart (Westland Fire Department)

A Michigan fire department’s dog pressed on the accelerator of a golf cart, causing the vehicle to run over a four-year-old girl’s leg, but luckily she was uninjured by the strange series of events.

According to the office of the Westland Fire Department chief, the dog, Bella, plopped onto a golf cart, which was being used at an event: Blues, Brews, and BBQ.

“She jumped onto the floor and laid down, laying across the accelerator pedal. This caused the cart to lunge forward and the firefighters reacted quickly to try to steer the cart away from any people and toward the tents that the fire department were occupying,” the fire department wrote.

But before the firefighters could stop the golf cart, it hit the young girl, as the front tire on the passenger side ran over her left leg. The child seemed “visibly shaken.”

The metaphorical fire was put out quickly, as paramedics determined she had no “obvious injuries” and, according to the fire department, the child’s mother refused to send her for further medical treatment.

The girl seemed to make a full recovery, the officials wrote. She was eating popcorn only minutes after she was run over, and within 10 minutes, she was jumping in the event’s bounce house.

A mother at the event replied to the fire department’s statement on Facebook, writing that her child was also injured in the event. “My four year old daughter was also knocked down and laying face down, flat on the grass parallel to the cart. Thankfully walked away with only a bruise on her arm, but she was and still is very scared. Glad nobody was seriously injured,” she wrote.

The officials also confirmed that the dog is “fine.”

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