A nine-year-old boy of Sophia was yesterday midday crushed to death after he lost control of his bicycle and fell after allegedly trying to undertake a garbage truck which then ran over him.
The deceased lad has been identified as Enam Negasi Holder, a pupil of Sophia Primary School who resided at Lot 2927 Section C, Sophia.
According to a police report, enquiries revealed that about 11:50 am the garbage truck, licence number GVV 6890 was proceeding along Church Street, Section C, Sophia picking up garbage when the driver stopped near a heap of mud situated on the southern side of the road. Upon stopping, the driver exited the truck to assist his porter in loading garbage onto the truck.
The driver then re-entered his truck and while driving forward, the child who was also said to have been proceeding in the same direction tried to pass the truck on the southern side and in doing so rode into the mud and lost control of his bicycle, falling in the process. As a result, the right rear wheel of the truck ran over his head.
Emergency Medical Technicians who arrived on the scene pronounced him dead.
When this newspaper visited the home of the deceased, the mother of the boy, Roxanne Holder nee Arthur was still trying to come to grips with the tragic news.
Holder noted that she was away at work when she learnt of the incident. “Yesterday (Saturday) he went to church and so on and he come back and sleep. Today I left and I go to work, whilst I’m at my workplace, ‘Juice Boy’ come and tell me, me son get lick down”, she recounted. She said following the news, she fainted more than once. Holder broke down as she recalled arriving at the scene of the accident and seeing her son’s state.
The woman shared that early last year Enam’s hand was broken during an incident with another child while at school. As a result she left her job to care for him for nine months. Holder said she started working again in November last year. He was the youngest of her five children.
According to the distraught woman, the bicycle he was riding at the time of the incident belongs to his father, adding that she had always warned him not to ride it because it was much bigger than him.
The body of the deceased is currently at the Lyken Funeral Home awaiting a post-mortem examination.
A breathalyzer test was conducted on the driver of the truck and showed a 0.00 reading. The driver is currently in custody assisting with investigations.
