The tragic death of a six-year-old boy happened early Thursday morning after he was struck by a tractor-trailer in East Harlem. The accident, which took place at 8 a.m. Thursday morning in Harlem, happened while a local crossing guard in the area was on break.
According to the NYPD, the boy was making his way across First Avenue in the crosswalk from east to west. Sadly, the boy was killed after a truck driver turned right on East 117th Street in East Harlem.
NBC New York reported that the six-year-old boy was walking alongside his nine-year-old brother when the incident occurred.
The children were only one block away from Public School 155, where they were headed. The six-year-old was taken to a nearby hospital and was soon pronounced dead. The nine-year-old boy was uninjured.
The crossing guard who worked in the area was reportedly on a bathroom break when the boy was truck and killed. Chris Roberts, a passenger in the truck, spoke to CBS about what happened:
He was like hysterical. He said, ‘You know a kid got hurt back there,’ so we pulled the truck over and got out. We didn’t realize anything had happened.
The NYPD stated that no criminality is suspected. An investigation is still ongoing.