Girl dies after being hit by truck in Riverview neighborhood

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A Hillsborough County community is heartbroken by an accident that took the life of a 3-year-old girl Tuesday.

Deputies said the child was walking her dog with her mother and a friend near Legacy Bright Boulevard and Hampton Meadow Lane.

Somehow the little girl got ahead and then ran into the road, where she was struck by a pickup truck. The child was taken to the hospital but deputies said there was nothing doctors could do.

Neighbors can't even imagine what kind of pain this mother must be feeling.

“They say, ‘Oh you will heal,’ but the grief, you can grieve forever,” Pat Critchfield said. “I am praying and hoping this family stays together because it’s a sign; it’s a little angel that got claimed.”

Deputies said the child was so small and the driver was high up off the ground in his truck that he wasn't able to see her in front of his car. 

"It just happened so fast and where she darted across in front of the truck, she just wasn't far ahead enough for him to see her based on the height of the truck," said Cristal Nunez, a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, calling it a tragic accident. "If they walk the dog every morning and every morning the child stayed next to her side, there's no reason for her to believe that this was going to be the day she didn't do that."

Deputies said the driver is not expected to be charged. The name of the little girl has not yet been released.