–video footage proves otherwise

UNCONFIRMED reports, primarily based on videos being circulated Online, are that seven-year-old Ciara Benjamin was not killed because the driver of the truck was at fault, or was speeding for that matter.

According to said reports, which were corroborated by eyewitnesses, the child and her aunt, Simone Barry, were attempting to cross the busy road, when the driver of the truck initially swerved in the direction of the median to avoid hitting them both.
But somehow, the child managed to break free of her aunt’s grip and reportedly ran back across the road, right into the vehicle’s path, resulting in the collision which caused her death.

Eywitness reports are that after hitting the child, the truck pinned her to the median, while her aunt told reporters on the scene of the accident that after being hit by the truck, she subsequently lost consciousness.

“I was crossing the road; I was holding my niece hand tight,” a distraught Barry recounted to reporters. “I was holding her hand to cross the road to go home, and I get pitch. I get blackout after that and I don’t know what happened.”

But in one video showing the immediate aftermath of the accident, Barry was seen frantically trying to get assistance to get her niece from under the truck, as enraged persons at the scene accosted the driver, and subsequently torched the vehicle.

Many persons, commenting on social media posts of the incident, have come to defense of the driver, saying that he did not deserve the ‘thrashing’ he got, as from all appearances, he was not to be blamed for the unfortunate accident.

In a post made on Facebook that was later deleted, the driver’s daughter aid: “My dad has been driving sand trucks and bigger trucks than sand ones for over 15 years and he was never, or will never be a reckless driver.”

She also noted that the footage showing the truck crashing into the median will vindicate her father, as it will prove that he was driving “in his rightful lane, and was not speeding.”

In the video seen by this newspaper, the truck suddenly swerves to the right, in the direction of the median, but the whereabouts of the young child is unclear.

The driver’s daughter also wanted to know in her post: “But is anybody thinking about my father, who has daughters and is probably suffering psychological problems, seeing as it was his first accident and now has to also suffer physically…”