Hourly Update

Girl, 5, killed in parade, was younger than entry age requirement

A 5-year-old girl died after police say she was thrown from her horse this morning during the Rodeo Parade. A team of horses pulling a wagon behind the girl spooked then ran into her horse and she fell off, said Sgt. Decio Hopffer a Tucson Police Department spokesman. Paramedics along the parade route, just yards away from where the incident occurred, responded immediately when the girl, who was the only rider on her horse, fell, Hopffer said. The girl was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead, Hopffer said. The girl has been identified and her parents were at the scene of the accident, but police and parade officials say her name will not be released until all family members have been notified. Friends of the family who know details of today's tragedy identified her as Brielle Boisvert of the Sonoita- Elgin area. Brielle was chosen last summer as "Little Miss" for Sonoita Rodeo Royalty. She was a member of a family of equestrians and musicians, according to the family's Web site. Bob Johnson, a spokesman for the Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee said the girl was a member of the Sonoita Rodeo Royalty parade entry number 213. He said the wagon involved in the accident was entry 214, for the Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center. She was younger than entry requirement At a press conference held at UMC, Johnson said the girl participated in violation of the parade's rules. He said parade's organizers do not verify participants age, though, and assume they know the age requirements, Johnson said. Organizers will have to look at age requirements and other safety issues, though Johnson didn't list any specific changes. "We're going to have to monitor that," Johnson said of the age requirement. Tucson Police Chief Richard Miranda, speaking at the press conference said the girl's death is under investigation, but that it is too early to determine if criminal charges will be filed. In an unattributed press release from the Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee, the group expressed "their deepest sympathies to the family of a young lady who was involved in this morning's tragic accident." The release went on to say that the Parade Committee is not releasing the name of the girl out of respect for the family. Officials with the Fred G. Acosta Job Corps Center were unaware of the accident when contacted by the Arizona Daily Star. They said they would attempt to find out what happened in order to be able to comment on the tragedy later today. The investigation is ongoing and police have obtained video footage of the accident taken at the parade, Hopffer said. Witnesses descibe accident Witnesses said the girl was among the last riders in her parade party when paired horses pulling the Job Corps Center wagon rounded the corner at South Park Avenue onto East Irvington Road and started to speed up. "I heard the carriage with the clickity-clack of the horses coming a little bit faster. She was the last one in the line of her parade party," said Jason Weaver, who saw the accident. "They were at a full gallop. Those people who were controlling that carriage were like, 'Whoa! Whoa!' They were really trying to control that carriage," said Adrian Weaver, Jason's wife. The paired horses bumped into the girl's horse, which may have reared up and thrown her off. The carriage appeared to roll over the girl, Jason Weaver said. He ran into the road and tried to comfort the girl. Her mother also ran to her side. "I ran out there and just said 'Your mom is here.' I yelled out 'Call 911!' She was lying down," Adrian Weaver said. Meanwhile, carriage drivers tried to get the horses under control. At one point, the horses jerked toward the crowd along the north side of the street. Maria Garcia said she feared the horses would run into her 2-year-old daughter, standing along the curb. "I just grabbed her and I move back," Garcia said. Marybeth Linn said she closed her eyes after seeing the horse rear up and throw the girl off. She said the crowd gasped, then went silent. "We wondered if we should get up and leave," Linn said. Girl pronounced dead shortly after accident Shortly after 11 a.m. at the University Medical Center emergency room lobby, members of the girl's rodeo club and their parents learned that the girl had died. There were tears, shrieks and utter disbelief about the loss of the 5-year-old girl they knew from the club and church. "She was a wonderful little girl," said Shelly Scriven, of Hereford, whose daughter, April Scriven, 17, was the queen of the rodeo club. "Let me tell you, this little girl was a shining star," she said. The tragedy will scar both the girl's parents and her daughter and the others who saw the whole thing. Each of the four members was riding her own horse, including the girl who died, Scriven said. "I feel terrible for the parents because they were right there when it happened; they walked the whole route," Scriven said. "My heart goes out to the parents." She added: "This is going to stay with the girls forever. They are devastated, they saw the whole thing. I don't wish this on anybody, this is a nightmare." Parade organizers need to remedy the handling of the wagons to avoid future tragedy, she said. "The wagons need to be inspected better or have certified handlers," she said. "This is ridiculous. This little girl is 5-years-old and she got run over by a wagon." The parade entry form online contains this disclaimer: "No children walking under age of 14 or mounted under age of 8 years." Not the first parade accident This is the second year in a row that participants in the Rodeo Parade have been in accidents. Last year, Beth Walkup, the mayor's wife, was injured when runaway horses rammed into the horse-drawn carriage she was riding in. Three months later, Walkup, 63, told the Star she was still being treated for severe neck pain. She was taking pain medication and under the care of a neurosurgeon, she said. She was hit in the back of the head and knocked unconscious for "maybe two minutes, but definitely less than five minutes" in the parade accident, she said then. Her husband was also injured in the parade crash last year, suffering swelling to his right forearm and a bad bruise where a horse kicked him. The Rodeo Parade moved to its current South Side location in 1991. At the time of the decision in 1990, Dick Swanson, chairman of the Rodeo Parade Committee, told the Star that the "sole motive for moving from downtown was our concern for safety and liability issues." Downtown streets were not wide enough to enable crowds to move out of the way of spooked animals, Swanson said at the time. He also mentioned sharp turns along the downtown parade route as a concern, along with noise and light bouncing off tall buildings. Read more... • City Risk Manager says parade must be insured, unknown who is liable • Other Rodeo Parade incidents Stay tuned to StarNet for updates.