The family of 8 year-old Kyeisha Joseph is worried sick at the hospital tonight after the standard two student was knocked down in front of her school in Ladyville this morning. Little Kyeisha was getting off the bus when she was run over. Today, we went to Ladyville to get some answers. Daniel Ortiz has that report:
Daniel Ortiz Reporting
8 year-old Kyeisha Joseph, a resident of Double Head Cabbage, got out of the bus early this morning, tried to cross the road to get into the Ladyville RC School compound, and she got hit by a vehicle heading to Belize City.
The standard 2 student was excited about going on a school trip to the Baron Bliss Grave today, but instead she ended up in the hospital because a driver sped past the bus at the wrong time.
ASP Chris Noble - Rural Executive Officer
"Sometime after 7:30, I believe, this morning, we did have a traffic accident reported in the area of the RC School. Initially, what we have is that a child may have exited a bus, came across the road, and was hit by a vehicle."
Carol Young - Principal, Ladyville RC School
"Her dad was the driver of the bus that she alighted this morning, and I understand that he told her to wait until the traffic clears, but she didn't hear because she is small. I think while peeping on the edge of the bus to see what was coming, the vehicle just swoop her away from the side."
Pamela Fitzgibbon - Eyewitness
"The person - the young lady who drove the vehicle dragged the little girl over that area, by that lamp post. That's where they dragged the little girl. The father then came out of the bus, picked her up, and took her."
Carol Young
"We were told a few minutes ago that the child suffered a broken collabone, a broken nose, her brain is swollen, because she had a fractured skull. She was bleeding through her nose, I think that she is in a critical condition."
And because she made one misstep, she is now clinging to life at the KHMH. Her family, friends, classmates and teachers are worried sick about her:
Carol Young
"The children, they are traumatized because all the kids are nervous. They are talking about it, and they are scared because a lot of kids were already here, and they saw what happened."
But, for the persons in charge, this accident underscores that there is a major problem that exposes children to risk in an area of Ladyville that ought to be treated as a school zone.
ASP Chris Noble
"One would need to look at what the possibility of upgrading these areas to acceptable levels. That is not for us to go back and forth with anybody with. It's just that we will need to assist in wherever we can. The school is one of the largest schools in the area, and there is a high school in the very close proximity."
Carol Young
"The ministry should try to do something about it, Ministry of Education, as soon as possible because we are asking for this speed ramp for several years no. I notice that for the last school year, they placed one at Ladyville Technical High School. Now this is a big school. We have over 600 kids, and we're pleading to them for years. I wasn't the principal, but we were asking them to please put one because our children ride the regular bus. We have a lot of kids who come all the way from Burrell Boom, or some of them come from as far as Bermudian Landing. That's the parent's choice, to have their children going to whatever school they choose. And so, we know that we have a problem with children crossing the street, and we had asked to put this pedestrian ramp, and so far, nothing has been done."
Pamela Fitzgibbon
"I'm very mad because if they gave us that speed bump, that vehicle would have slowed down. Every morning, we have trouble here with the amount of vehicles which passes here under speed."
Late this afternoon, 7News spoke with the family of Kyeisha Joseph, who told us that she is alert, but in a lot of pain. The driver of the vehicle which hit her has been served with a notice of intended prosecution.
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