12-year-old bicyclist hospitalized after losing balance while using cellphone, riding into traffic

A New Hampshire 12-year-old girl is recovering after she was run over by a landscaping trailer while riding her bicycle in Laconia on Wednesday morning. Laconia police said the girl was riding her bike on the sidewalk around 7: 30 a.m. near North Main and Oak streets and was using her cellphone when she lost her balance and rode into traffic, hitting a truck that was stopped and towing a trailer. “The driver of the truck did not realize the bicyclist struck his vehicle and when he drove forward his trailer ran over her,” police said. The Union Leader reports that the driver of the dump truck towing the landscaping trailer stopped immediately and pulled over. According to the newspaper, the girl was on her way to Laconia Middle School and wasn’t wearing a helmet. Both the school principal and nurse rushed to the scene to comfort her after the incident. Police said the girl suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and was transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for treatment. “The patient’s doing fine,” Sgt. Robert Cameron said Thursday morning.