A TODDLER was crushed to death after a truck selling cooking gas and kerosene rolled over his head in front of his Lot 7 Plantation Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo home on Saturday.

Dead is 15-month-old Terrence Antonio Wilson. He was pronounced dead at the Leonora Cottage Hospital, where he was rushed after the accident.

The driver, a 27-year-old North Zeelugt Housing Scheme resident, is in custody assisting with the investigation.

Police said the accident occurred around 06.30hrs at Access Road, Zeelugt (GuySuCo Scheme) and has so far revealed that the truck, GVV 363 was stopped by the child’s grandfather who sought to make a purchase.

During the transaction, the child reportedly ventured out of the yard and went under the vehicle, unknown to anyone.

His skull was subsequently crushed by one of the rear wheels of the truck after the vehicle drove off.

The grandmother of the toddler said the child followed his grandfather outside and was standing at the rear of the truck.

“People saying that the child crept under the wheel but the truck had a barrier and I don’t believe he creep under the wheel. The baby was standing next to the wheel, he (the driver) had two porters, before you pull off you are supposed to look around,” the traumatised grandmother said.

She said the driver of the truck is known to be reckless.

“We are not saying the child was right to be there but as a driver with two porters, he could have looks around before pulling off, he is supposed to be focusing,” she explained

The grandmother lamented that the man began to become hostile “saying if yal want money, is only on phone call away”.

“I just wish his license get taken away, he is careless, everyone in the community can tell you how reckless this man is drive,” the mother of the child said.

She continued: “When the porter said hold on driver is what you knock there, then the porter said it’s a baby and the driver was hustling to drive off. If my brother didn’t run and snatch the keys from the truck he would have driven away.”

Wilson is the third child to have died recently.

The first reported incident occurred on December 11, when an 11- month-old baby drowned at Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD) and the second occurred the same day when a five-month-old baby boy was electrocuted after he placed a live electrical cord in his mouth.