Police: Aunt trying to scare kids fatally hit niece with van

BROWNSTOWN, Pa. – The aunt of a 2-year-old Pennsylvania girl who died after being pinned against a barn by a minivan says she was trying to scare the kids by speeding toward them honking her horn, but the van wouldn’t stop.

Twenty-three-year-old Grace Martin, of Terre Hill, faces involuntary manslaughter and related charges in the September death of Andrea Zimmerman.

The Lancaster County district attorney’s office says two other children, ages 3 and 4, were able to get out of the way.

Martin turned herself in Friday.

District Attorney Craig Stedman says Martin was visiting the children and their parents at the Brownstown home.

She told police she tried and failed to stop as she approached the children.

An inspection of the minivan didn’t find any mechanical issues.

A message left for her attorney wasn’t immediately returned.

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