POWELLSVILLE – A 13-year-old Ahoskie girl died Saturday as the result of a bizarre motor vehicle accident near here Thursday night.

According to a report filed by North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Mize, Kimberly Bryson suffered severe head injuries after she was literally blown out of the back of a pick-up truck traveling east on RP 1235 (Center Grove Road) at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. She died Saturday at Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville.

The truck – a 1999 Chevrolet – was driven by Kenneth Gregory Liverman, 42, of Ahoskie. Mize’s report revealed the vehicle was traveling at a low rate of speed at the time of the accident.

Bryson was riding in the bed of the vehicle, allegedly sitting on the top of a mattress and box spring that was propped on the toolbox of the short-bed truck. A strong gust of wind lifted the mattress/box spring out of the truck’s bed, causing Bryson to apparently lose her balance as she too was thrown from the truck, striking the roadway near the centerline.

Pitt Memorial’s EastCare flew directly to the scene of the accident, transporting the girl to Greenville.

Charges in the accident are pending.

The fatality was the eighth of the year on Roanoke-Chowan area roadways, one-half of which have involved young people.

On April 10, Danielle Nelson, 13, of Woodland was killed in a two-vehicle accident on US 258 near the Pinetops community in Northampton County. One day later, eight-month-old Shontell Cobb of Portsmouth, Va. lost her life in a one-car crash on US 13 in Gates County. Ron Gina Wilder, 17, of Aulander died April 23 as the result of injuries sustained April 20 in a two-car mishap on Memorial Drive in Ahoskie.