Posted on 11/18/2023 10:02:27 PM PST by Morgana
The driver of a Sysco truck that struck and killed a five-year-old girl earlier this year will not face criminal charges, prosecutors have announced.
Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker made the revelation Friday, a little more than six months after Sidney Olson was struck on the streets of small-town Massachusetts.
The family is still pursuing civil charges against the driver, who hit the child as she was walking to an art class with a relative in Andover on May 9.
Relatives said she had the 'walk' signal, but that the driver didn't see the child when he moved forward when his light turned green.
The often busy intersection gives pedestrians the right of way, but Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker on Friday said the girl's death was not the result of a criminal act.
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He said in a statement: 'The investigative findings do not provide sufficient evidence to seek criminal charges against the driver of the tractor-trailer.'
Citing a 'thorough and detailed' police probe that included video from inside the food transport truck, he added: 'The driver was stopped at the intersection.
'As he began to advance forward on the light turning green, he was unable to see Ms. Olson traveling on her scooter in the crosswalk below.
'The driver was not impaired by any substances and immediately came to a controlled stop after the collision.'
The DA's office added that lawmen carried out toxicology screens on the driver and a mechanical inspection of he vehicle, after he immediately stopped to cooperate with cops.
Prosecutors also used several witness interviews when making their decision - after several described a female relative cradling the child's lifeless body.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
How is it the city’s fault if the little girl started crossing in front of a big, stopped truck on a green light?
“As should those who criticize police...”
Since you are obsessing about that this morning... How much you want to bet they would have to sign a nondisclosure “keep your mouth shut” contract before they can ride along?
Transparency is extremely rare to nonexistent. I rode along many times as an Eagle Scout in the 70s. And even then I witnessed some stuff that was absolutely dishonest and deceptive being called “Standard Procedure”.
Knowing the Gay State (Massachusetts) as well as I do I must assume that the driver was a member of at least one protected class.
Sounds like a tragic accident. Prayers for the little girl and her family.
“Contrary to popular belief, not every crash is caused by the trucker.”
Absolutely, it is a real problem to automatically place blame on the truck. I have seen trucks blamed for accidents when they were sitting parked in a parking lot with no driver in it and someone hit it.
You are right about that last minute choice, been there myself a few times where I was mentally preparing myself to make that ultimate sacrifice and ditch my myself and my truck to save lives.
Every commercial driver has had these near misses where that concept crossed their minds.
“Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker on Friday said the girl’s death was not the result of a criminal act.”
Of course the driver is at fault.
Sounds like manslaughter. As the driver has not been named perhaps they’re a “protected class”?
Happens all the time at zebra crossings.
Those push button cross walks should be banned.
I watched a “lady” wait until a car was ten yards away before she pushed the button and caused a rear end accident.
Trucks are not easy to stop or see around(blind spot).
I have done a ride around with police.
Showed me what an ass he was. You think my cousin would act more professional when I was in the car.
First thing he did was give me a traceless gun “in case I needed it”.
Young people don’t understand how pedestrian should respond at intersections. Too many of them think “If any light changes, I can go”
I visited Salem, Massachusetts and saw signs clearing indicating that cars were to stop for pedestrians crossing the street as required by a Massachusetts law.
I agree plus I think it depends on the situation. Did the kid dart out or was there plenty of time for the truck driver to stop but he was on a cell phone etc.?
When you see a green light while driving, you are not expecting pedestrians
Natives of Massachusetts feel entitled to used a crosswalk at any time or circumstance, no matter what the traffic lights and crosswalk signals show.
If driving along a “Green”, the natives will use a crosswalk without ever looking at traffic.
A life-long driver, pedestrian, skateboarder, inline skater, cyclist, etc. (but not a big rig driver)...
...I’ve NEVER been hit by a vehicle - even as a child who traversed hundreds of miles of a million-plus city before I was licensed to drive - and for good reason:
I have always observed the law of gross tonnage and NEVER proceed across traffic without either having the attention of driver(s) or the absence of threats, regardless of signals, crosswalks or, for that matter “right of way.”
ROW is a copout, nothing more than a legal definition.
One out of 50 or more pedestrians who walk out in front of my vehicle bother to look at traffic; that includes children. A SINGLE pedestrian in the prior 5 years bothered to make eye contact with me before walking in front of my car; that’s complete horseshit, a blatant disregard for personal safety.
The OP story is a tragedy. A tragedy borne NOT of the driver, but violation of a social contract which has, for the prior few decades, continued to deny personal responsibility at the behest of state & local governments & bureaucracies which enact policies feigned to protect pedestrians and cyclists, but only serve to endanger pedestrians & cyclists, especially children.
You should damned well know better.
Beg to differ, but yes it is.
Many inebriated persons get tagged in
Vegas. Haven’t seen a case yet where
the staggered was at fault.
Pedestrians have the right of way.
I drove for Werner for several years. I could write a book about how stupid people are around trucks. That said, Im curious if this driver is from Africa or some Muddle East sandy sh*thole.
Seems like a cheap and effective fix for any big trucks.
It is a common misconception what the several colors, shapes and configurations of traffic lights and posted instruction and prohibition signs on poles and painted on the roadway surfaces mean for motor vehicle drivers, bicyclists, and users of various other means of transportation and pedestrians.
I have walked, rode and driven about 2 million miles on and in many types of vehicles from tricycles to big riggs in 47 of the fifty states, Canada and Mexico on paved and unpaved roads. During these miles I have had several minor incidents and by learning from experience to always focus on safety because we are always one to three seconds from killing or being killed while on or near a roadway. I have avoided dozens of serious once in a lifetime incidents by disciplined driving habits and good luck. I surmise that the worst incidents happen when we are least prepared for them, or to say that another way, when we are distracted or have low situational awareness.
I will focus my comment on just one aspect of the limit lines and traffic lights.
First a few commonsense rules of the road. Automobile operators of all types have a responsibility to yield the right of way to all pedestrians, bicyclists and users of all manner of powered and unpowered wheeled and stand on or sit on vehicles on or near the roadway.
A green light does not mean go, like on a raceway drag strip.
It means you now have the right of way to proceed through the intersection if it is safe to do so. This means do not enter the intersection or cross the limit line painted on the road surface if any cross-traffic vehicle or pedestrian is completing a maneuver through the intersection whether legal or illegal. Do not enter the intersection if an emergency vehicle is approaching the intersection. This includes yellow and red-light runners, distracted walkers, drivers and animals, etc.
A yellow light means stop before the intersection if it safe to do so. Watch the traffic behind you for tailgaters that are by definition unsafe drivers and are generally distracted in some way.
A red light means you do not have the right of way to proceed through the intersection unless there are extenuating circumstances.
As noted in above posts, in general, stop before the limit line so you can see the line from your stopped position. Also stop before the vehicle in front of you so you can see that vehicles rear tires on the pavement.
Your lines of sight may not extend for you to see all approaching hazards. Anticipate that pedestrians, riders of bicycles and other wheeled vehicles and vehicle drivers sometimes disobey the law and go the wrong way and will be difficult to see because you are not generally anticipating such behavior. Children and animals don’t know safe from unsafe and are always in danger of making potentially hazardous moves.
Whenever we operate or ride in a motor vehicle, we have an approximate one in seven thousand chance of a fatal accident during that trip, whether we go only around the block or go around the world. Your milage may vary.
And left unsaid is that this tragic accident would have been avoided by the child was trained to look both ways before crossing streets and disciplined enough to do so, though not all are. Here in this city of about 25,000 ppl per sq. mile, that is important, even on one-way streets.
The closest I came as a truck driver (just 12 ton) was that of a kid whose family I knew that was riding on the side of the small highway, and his pedal hit the curb, thus falling out into my lane. I was about 50' away and swerved out to miss him. Thank God.
My son talked about the spandex bicyclists who would get in front of his fully loaded construction trucks and slow down to show him who was the boss of the roads particularly on hilly upscale rural suburban areas. He said they never knew how much their lives were depending on his brakes and skills.
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