Boy not seriously hurt after being ejected from van

YAKIMA, Wash. -- A 7-year-old boy suffered only minor injuries Monday afternoon when he was thrown from a rolling van on eastbound U.S. Highway 12 at the 40th Avenue exit, authorities said.

The ejected passenger was one of three people in the van, including a 13-year-old boy and driver Maria Medina of Yakima, said Trooper Darin Foster of the Washington State Patrol.

They were taken to Yakima hospitals to be checked, but all injuries turned out to be minor, according to the patrol.

The crash was reported about 3 p.m.

Foster said the van left the roadway just past the eastbound 40th Avenue exit.

The van went off the highway embankment at a sideways angle and then rolled when it hit the edge on the shoulder of the exit. A witness reported that the boy was thrown out of the van as it rolled across the exit lane, where it clipped the left front of another vehicle.

The van landed on its wheels on the opposite embankment, facing westbound. The driver of the second vehicle was not hurt, Foster said.

He said the ejected boy was not wearing a seat belt and should have been using a booster seat.

Traffic was temporarily restricted to the exit's left lane until a tow truck removed the van.