5-year-old boy struck by pickup truck

A 5-year-old boy was taken to the hospital Wednesday after he was struck by a pickup truck in the El Jacalito parking lot in the 500 block of Olive Avenue.

Porterville Police Officer Dominic Barteau said the boy was not seriously injured but was taken by ambulance to Sierra View District Hospital.

Witnesses said the boy was playing in the bed of the truck when the owner, who knew the boy, asked him to step down. They said the driver believed the boy had left but when he backed up, bumped him and touched the edge of his thigh with the truck’s back tire.

The boy was awake and responsive while he was attended to by paramedics.