MIAMI _ A 3-year-old girl was seriously injured Wednesday night when she rode her father's motorcycle into a fence near the family home near Golden Glades, authorities told the Miami Herald. Her 35-year-old father, who chased after the toddler and the bike, was also injured in the crash.
The crash, first reported by WPLG Local 10, happend around 5:30 p.m. at the Westar Mart gas station at 163rd St. and N.E. Sixth Avenue in North East Miami-Dade, according to Detective Lee Cowart, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department.
According to an initial police inquiry, the man had driven the bike to pick up groceries just prior to the accident. When he arrived home, a few houses down from the Westar Mart, the 35-year-old parked the bike and went inside for dinner. Within minutes, he was alerted him to a problem with his bike.
The man ran back outside to find the three-year-old driving the motorcycle down the street. He ran after her, attempting to gain control of the vehicle but never managed to get on, according to Cowart. Instead, he was dragged by the vehicle across N.E. Sixth Avenue _ his daughter still in the drivers seat _ until they crashed into the Westar Mart fence.
The toddler was airlifted by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to Joe Dimaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood. Her father was taken to Jackson North. Police had no information on the specifics of their injuries. Neither had been released from the hospital late Wednesday night, according to Cowart. The victims' names were not undisclosed.
Police have an ongoing investigation into how the toddler managed to turn on the bike and why she was outside unsupervised with access to the motorcycle.
