ROCKY MOUNT — A seven-year-old girl was killed this morning when she darted in front of a pickup truck as a school bus approached.

Janell Simmons was standing on the shoulder of N.C. 43, across the road from two other children at a bus stop, when a northbound school bus approached just before 7 a.m., according to State Highway Patrol spokesman Jeff D. Gordon.

Eddie Suggs was driving southbound when he saw the children and the oncoming bus and slowed his Ford pickup, Gordon said. But he arrived at the bus stop before the bus and did not stop. Janell ran in front of the pickup and was hit.

She was pronounced dead at Nash General Hospital.

Suggs was not cited, Gordon said.

“It should be noted that the approaching school bus was not stopped, loading or discharging any students at the time of the accident,” he said in a statement.