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The girl was killed when she fell out of a horse-drawn wagon and the horse backed up, pushing the wagon wheels over the child's head, crushing it, and killing her on Aug. 26, according to court records and the initial police release.
The driver of the cart was her father, 28-year-old Christopher Hoover Martin, who told police he was harvesting tobacco in the field and brought the girl with him. The 3-year-old sat in a seat near a pile of tobacco in the small wooden cart with railings only on the front and sides, police detailed in an updated release.
Martin admitted to not checking on her before backing up the cart and then advancing, the North Lancaster County Regional police say. He was not driving the cart at the time but was working along the side of it and did not see her fall or get crushed by the 28-inch steel wheel, according to the release.
The incident happened along Sunnyside Road in Clay Township, Ephrata at 11:15 a.m., according to the initial release.
He has been charged with a felony for a parent or guardian endangering the welfare of a child, police say and court records confirm.
Additional information was unavailable at the time of publication as he had yet to be arraigned.
The child's identity was not released.
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