Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Coppermine (Sep 23/02) - A 13-year-old girl is recovering from serious injuries in hospital after she was hit by a Ford pickup while she and another girl walked along a road on Sept. 15.

Kugluktuk RCMP said it was the first motor vehicle accident involving an injury in several years.

Cpl. Grant St. Germaine said the rented truck struck both girls during the early morning hours of Sept. 15.

One girl escaped serious injury, but St. Germaine said the second girl sustained "relatively severe" injuries.

"She's got a broken arm and she had a cut and some bruising and scrapes on her leg," he said.

The girl was medevaced to Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife a few hours after the accident and underwent surgery later that afternoon.

The victim's guardian said she was "really shocked" and "freaking out" when she first heard about the accident. She said the girl's birth mother travelled to Yellowknife to be with her daughter during her recovery.

"She's doing much better," said the guardian, adding she is not sure when the girl will be released.

A suspect was arrested at the scene.

St. Germaine said the 17-year-old male was charged with driving while prohibited and breach of probation.

Further charges are pending the outcome of the investigation.

He is an Edmonton resident who was working in Kugluktuk.

On Sept. 17, a Justice of the Peace ordered the youth transferred to Iqaluit, where he is scheduled to appear in territorial court on Oct. 8. He is being held at the Baffin Correctional Centre.

Kugluktuk is a "fairly transient town," said St. Germaine, as southern contractors are often hired for local construction projects.

There are about 40 trucks and cars in the hamlet. For the most part, motorists follow the rules of the road, he said, but visitors from the south often are not as cautious as they should be.