Teen recovering after float ran over the 13-year-old at Waukesha parade

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A Waukesha teen is recovering after getting run over in a holiday parade.

The 13-year-old is going to be okay. Her parents say they're thankful to the whole town -- from the police in the parade to the off-duty first responders -- that stepped in to help in what could have been a much worse situation.

On Sunday, November 20th, Alesha Vertz was in the Waukesha Christmas Parade. She was handing out candy to kids lined along the parade route... but when she went to get more from the float she got too close to the wheel.

"My foot got stuck... it got ran over by [the wheel]. It ran over my foot and then I fell over," said Vertz. "There was a few people that came over, and they were asking if I was okay, and telling me to stay still."

An off-duty paramedic and nurse that were watching the parade rushed to help Alesha. They carried her to a nearby bench to wait for an ambulance.

"My husband called me and said, 'Get down here right away. Alesha got hit,'" said Becca Schiek, Alesha's mom.

Alesha was walking in the parade with her dad and her sister. The rest of the family was watching the parade and rushed to get to her.

"By the time I got there, there was several police officers there and my husband said he didn't even have a chance to call 911. There was police officers at every corner. They responded so quickly," said Schiek. "They were there to keep everybody safe and they called 911 right away."

The parade stopped for 10 minutes while first responders tended to Alesha. She says the pain didn't kick in until she got in the ambulance. At the hospital, doctors confirmed she had a broken foot.

"A lot of people were asking me what happened, and I told them what happened, and they were like, 'You were the person that got hit in the parade?' It was funny that a lot of people had heard about it," said Vertz.

Alesha says that humor after the incident is helping keep the pain at bay.

"A lot of people had thought that I was on the float and fell off, or that I was watching and I had ran out to get candy," said Vertz. "We heard that a couple times," said Schiek.

Doctors told the family Alesha broke her foot in a place where it's really easy to re-injure it -- she can't put too much pressure on her right foot. She will wear a boot and be on crutches for at least 3 months.