7-year-old injured after Jackson Veterans Day parade recovering quickly

Ryan Poirrier is limping and a bit achy, but he's going to be OK.

"To be honest, he's back to his chipper, joyful self," said his stepmother, Kristy Shrout.

Ryan, 7, was struck by a vehicle while crossing Missouri Street after helping carry a banner for his Oak Ridge school in Jackson's Veterans Day parade Tuesday.

He had run into the street from between two buses on his way to Jackson High School to grab a bag that had been left behind. The vehicle dragged him for a short distance, he said. When it stopped, he jumped up and ran to a school official, who made him lie down on the grass until Jackson firefighters arrived.

Kristy Shrout said when she received a call from a family friend saying her son was injured, she raced to Saint Francis Medical Center. She arrived before the ambulance did. The boy was examined and treated for scrapes and for swelling in his left thumb and right knee before being released. The family then visited Kristy Shrout's mother, under treatment at the hospital, before going home.

Ryan Poirrier said his grandmother was upset to learn about the accident but glad he was going to be OK.

According to a Jackson police spokesman, the investigation was still underway Wednesday afternoon and no charges had been filed against the woman driving the vehicle.

"As a mother, I think 'How could she not see him?' But, with everything going on, I could see how she might have been distracted," Shrout said.

She said she's relieved her young son did not suffer broken bones. After visiting his pediatrician and an orthopedic doctor Wednesday, Ryan Poirrier said he learned an important lesson from the accident:

"Look both ways before you cross the street."

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646

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