North Idaho girl dies in accident on father’s semitruck

A 4-year-old North Idaho girl died Sunday night after falling between the mud flaps and tires of a semitruck her father was driving. Emergency personnel responded to 5885 S. Wolf Lodge Creek Road around 6 p.m. to discover that Steven Wilson had extricated his daughter, Julie, from where she was wedged in the vehicle. Unknown to Steven Wilson, Julie had climbed on the back of the tractor as he left to drive it to a shop for maintenance, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department reported. Somewhere during the seven-tenths of a mile trip, Julie fell between the tires and mud flap assembly, a news release said. Her father found her when he arrived at the shop. Julie was pronounced dead at the scene due to massive head trauma. A news release from the Sheriff’s Department called it “a tragic accident.”