Utah Girl Critically Hurt in Impalement Accident

An 11-year-old Pleasant View, Utah, girl was in critical condition on Monday after police say a freak accident sent a rod through her body.

Nikki Clark was playing outside her home Saturday and carrying the rod used to rotate window blinds when she fell, Pleasant View police Sgt. Jerry Anderson said.

The rod entered her chest and passed through the back of her neck before she pulled it out herself, he said.

“A lot of her internal organs between her heart and all the way up were torn apart,” family spokeswoman Brandi Babbitt told Salt Lake City’s ABC 4 news.

Clark remained in critical condition, said Chris Dallin, a spokesman for McKay-Dee Hospital.

Doctors performed a brain scan and found the girl was not functioning, Babbitt told the station, after her brain and other organs were deprived of oxygen for a time after the accident.

Babbitt described Clark as a child who “loves everybody.”

“She’s the type of girl you hope your kids are like,” she said. “She’s very playful, and she just loves life.”