EMS workers manuever through the crowd to get to a 6-year-boy injured when the driver of an ATV lost control of the vehicle, which struck a curve and plowed into the group of parade-watchers. (Adam Dempsey/Special to the Independent)

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Two spectators, one of them a 6-year-old, were injured during Saturday’s Clinton-Sampson Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade when a participant operating a four wheel all-terrain vehicle in the parade lost control of the vehicle and plowed into the crowd along Fayetteville Street.

The female and the youngster were taken to Sampson Regional Medical Center for treatment of what police are calling non-life threatening injuries.

The parade, which began around 10 a.m., was halted for around 15 to 20 minutes as EMS crews maneuvered their way through the crowd to the injured.

According to Clinton police, who are still investigating the incident, the ATV’s driver, Donald Lee Everette, 46, of Salemburg, lost control of the vehicle, which left the roadway, accelerated and struck the curbing, causing the ATV to go into a crowd of parade-watchers. A 6-year-old was riding with Everette on the ATV at the time of the accident but was reportedly not injured in the accident.

Everette, reports show, was injured but declined medical treatment at the scene.

No information has been released yet about possible charges.

Chamber president Gary Mac Herring said Saturday afternoon that his, and the entire Chamber’s, thoughts and prayers were with those injured in the accident.

“Our immediate focus is on the people who were injured and their recovery,” Herring stressed. “We’ve been in contact with the police chief to discuss what occurred and we will be taking a look at the situation to see what, if anything, needs to be done.”