Girl hit by child driver: 'It was an accident. She didn't mean to do it'

ALSEA, Ore. - A 9-year-old girl injured when a mother let her 11-year-old daughter drive a car told KVAL News she understands it was an accident.

"She was just trying to drive up the driveway and park it and see if she could park the car," said Megan Harper, who was injured in the crash. "It was an accident. She didn't mean to do it."

According to the Benton County Sheriff's Office, 48-year-old Melanie Steed-Hildebrand was in the passenger seat last weekend while her daughter was driving between their home and a garage sale on Highway 34.

Something made the girl panic and caused the vehicle to lurch toward two girls in a rural driveway.

One girl got out of the way, but Harper got hit.

Deputies charged Steed-Hildebrand with a misdemeanor charge of recklessly endangering another person.