The teenager was sledding with a 3-year-old boy in Lewiston “when they hit a tree at the bottom of the hill,” the office said in a statement.
The two boys were taken to John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, where the girl was pronounced dead, according to the office.
The park where they were sledding, Clyde L. Burmaster Park, has been closed and the case is still being investigated, the sheriff’s office said.
From 2008 to 2017, 220,488 patients were treated in U.S. emergency departments for sled-related injuries, according to the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus National Children’s Hospital, Ohio. Almost 70% of these patients were children 19 years of age and younger.