A woman was taken to the hospital after being hit and "dragged a very short distance" by a float in the Bristol Fourth of July Parade Tuesday, Bristol Police have confirmed.

Bristol Police Capt. Brian Burke told the Phoenix the woman, a 69-year-old from Maine, was struck by a float in the parade as it turned onto Hope Street from Chestnut Street right around noon. The woman fell to the ground and "sustained what appeared to be superficial cuts and abrasions," Capt. Burke said.

The woman "was struck by the front of the float and dragged a very short distance," Capt. Burke said. "The driver of the vehicle immediately stopped. Several bystanders and rescue workers then ran immediately to the area."

The bystanders lifted the float off the woman, witnesses said and Capt. Burke confirmed. Bristol Fire Rescue treated her for visible cuts on the scene and brought her to the hospital.

"She was alert and communicating" with rescue workers after the accident, Capt. Burke said, and she is expected to be released from Rhode Island Hospital, where she was held overnight for observation.

Parade Chairwoman Fran O’Donnell credited emergency responders and parade spectators for their fast work in preventing the accident from being worse than it could have been.

“I can’t tell you how incredibly quickly people responded,” Ms. O’Donnell said. “I can’t say enough about Bristol Police Fire and Rescue and the spectators who jumped to action and did what needed to be done.”

Witnesses said the woman walking near the float was distracted when someone called her name. She turned around and didn't see the slow-moving float inching toward her, part of which then fell on her, according to parade spectator Jen Gilbert.

"It took her out by the knees, and then I think she hit her head on the concrete going down," Ms. Gilbert said. "I closed my eyes, then I opened them up and there were probably 50 people lifting up the float, trying to take it off of her. It was pretty scary."

Bristol Fire Rescue responded to the accident and transported the woman to Rhode Island Hospital.