Teen dies after being pushed into traffic
VIDEO - Family and friends are remembering the St. Paul teen killed Tuesday after being struck by a city truck it St. Paul, Minnesota...
Family and friends are remembering the St. Paul teen killed Tuesday after being struck by a city truck it St. Paul, Minnesota
Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Vinson was a student at Central High School. Police say it appears Vinson and several other teens were standing at the corner around 2 p.m waiting for a light to change when they began pushing and shoving each other. Eventually Vinson was pushed out into the roadway where he was struck by a city of St. Paul Parks and Recreation maintenance truck.
On Wednesday morning, family and friends gathered at a memorial that was created on the sidewalk. As the memorial continued to grow, the hugs between family and friends got longer. For them, it’s not easy to understand how a young life could end too soon and so suddenly.
“We’re still shocked, just kind of wondering exactly what happened and why it happened,” Beverly Johnson, Isaiah Vinson’s aunt, said “He had a smile that just brightened up the room.”
While at first police weren’t sure if there had been an argument and Isaiah was pushed intentionally, investigators now say at this point witness accounts lead them to believe it was likely an accident. They hope finding more witnesses will help fill in missing details.
The 52-year-old truck driver has worked in St. Paul’s Parks and Recreation Department for six years with a clean record. City officials say he wasn’t speeding, intoxicated or distracted and there was nothing wrong with the truck.
“The way it happened, there was no way for him to swerve; there was no way for him to hit the brakes. It’s just too bad,” says Brad Meyer, with the St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department.
Vinson was a student at St. Paul Central High School, an average teenager who loved to sing, his family tells KARE 11. They hope the community will remember him the way they do.
“The most beautiful eyes you’d ever want to see. He was tall handsome, very intelligent,” says Beverly Johnson. “Just a beautiful person and we’ll miss him.”
Students were able to meet with grief counselors at Central High School.
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