Chula Vista

An 8-year-old girl was killed by a car as she tried to run across a street, officials said.

The accident occurred Friday at 8 a.m. as Pamela Pendergraft ran across Hilltop Drive in the middle of the block, Police Officer Dennis Dodge said.

A northbound car swerved to avoid her, but she was hit by a second car behind the first one, Dodge said.

That driver was “very upset,” he said, adding that no charges are expected.

Pamela was taken to Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10:17 of multiple injuries, Deputy Coroner Ken Bell said.

Dodge said several witnesses, some of them Pamela’s schoolmates at Loma Verde Elementary School, saw the accident.

Betty Walsh, principal at Loma Verde, said eight psychologists were called to counsel the children.

Pamela was “a friendly, energetic, lively, happy child,” Walsh said. “She never walked by without saying, ‘Hi.’ (She was) a little, blond ponytail bouncing by.”