PORT HUENEME : Girl Hit When Van Rolls Down Driveway

A 9-year-old Port Hueneme girl was critically injured Thursday after she apparently slipped her family’s van into reverse and then was run over as it rolled backward, officials said.

Two Port Hueneme police officers, who had just left a nearby call, found the van stopped in the middle of Park Avenue and the girl bleeding on the pavement about 7:40 a.m. They called for county firefighters who arrived within seconds and began giving the girl cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Rose Marie Jordan was rushed to St. John’s Regional Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition late Thursday.

Port Hueneme Officer Ken Dobbe said Rose had been playing inside her parents’ van in front of the house when she apparently shifted the automatic transmission from park into reverse. The emergency brake was not set and the van began rolling down the driveway, he said.

“She either tried to get out of the van or fell out,” Dobbe said. There were no witnesses.

At the time, Rose’s mother was at work and her father and several siblings were inside their house in the 400 block of Park Avenue. The family learned what had happened after they heard sirens converging on the area and walked outside, Dobbe said.

The girl’s father told police his children sometimes played in the van, which was not in operating condition, Dobbe said.