Driver ran down teen girls in Rockland, police say

Police said in a statement that the driver of the van, 18-year-old Nathan Delaplain-Zook, of Norwell, was arrested and charged with attempted murder, among other charges.
A call to his listed address was not returned Monday night.

Anthony Saturno, 15, of Rockland, who said he witnessed the episode, said a group of local teenagers that included the three girls gathered in a condominium parking lot to watch a planned fight between Norwell and Rockland youths.

He said that when a group of Norwell youths pulled into the lot in a white minivan, a teen from Rockland tried to open a door to drag them out.

The Norwell teenagers pushed the male away and then drove over the three girls, who were sitting on a curb in the lot, before fleeing, Saturno said.

He added that about 30 youths had gathered to watch the fight.

The van drove over some of the girls’ legs, and one girl’s stomach, Saturno said.

State and Rockland police were investigating at the scene Monday night.

A State Police spokesman said Rockland police requested a State Police crash reconstruction team and crime scene services, which were dispatched to the area.

Kimberly Parmenter, of Rockland, said her 16-year-old son Matthew was the male struck by the van, and that he was taken to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital. She said he left the hospital with minor injuries to his spine after an MRI came back negative.
She said his girlfriend, Alyssa Gillooly, 16, was one of the three girls with severe injuries, possibly a broken pelvis.

Gillooly was in fair condition last night at South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth, a spokeswoman said.

Parmenter said her son and Gillooly went to the parking lot to watch the fight but had no idea what it was about.

’’[Matthew] is not really too with it right now,’’ she said.

Lisa Christie, 42, lives across the street from the parking lot and attended to the girls before paramedics arrived.

She said she was at her kitchen window when the girls were hit.

’’It was so loud I thought it was gunshots,’’ she said.

One girl’s leg was dislocated, and the other two had injuries to their hips, ankles, and legs, among other areas, Christie, a certified medical assistant, said.

They were talking and drifting in and out of consciousness, she said, and one girl asked repeatedly, ’’Am I going to die?’’

Her daughter, Hannah Coy, 14, said one of the victims was 14-year-old Julea White, who is in her eighth-grade homeroom at a local middle school.

Coy said she did not know what prompted the fight but knew that White was not part of it.
’’Julea wouldn’t fight unless she had to,’’ Coy said.

White was transported to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital, a nursing supervisor said, and was later moved to a Boston hospital. Her condition was not immediately known Monday night.

The identity and condition of the third female could not be confirmed Monday night.

Cheryl Gallagher, 49, who lives across the street from the scene, said she heard the girls get hit and started walking toward the area.

A group of children who had witnessed the episode told her that the driver of the van had intentionally run over the girls.

She said she held the hand of one injured teens to keep her calm. The girl repeatedly asked Gallagher whether she was going to die, she said.

Gallagher said she saw the people in the van flee the scene. The van went around the back of the condo unit and then jumped an embankment, she said.

Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com.