Boy, 8, hit and killed by trash truck in Newport Beach
An 8-year-old boy’s bicycle lies under the front end of a trash truck that struck and killed him Wednesday afternoon in Newport Beach.
An 8-year-old boy was struck and killed by a trash truck in a Newport Beach residential neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, police said.
The boy was riding or walking with a bicycle on 15th Street between Irvine Avenue and Fullerton Avenue when the truck hit him about 1:30 p.m., according to Newport Beach police Lt. Jeff Brouwer.
“Due to the massive injury the child received, unfortunately he died at the scene,” Brouwer said.
Authorities have not identified the boy.
Hours later, the small bicycle was still pinned under the truck’s cab as investigators tried to piece together what happened.
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From the truck’s position on the street, it appeared to have been turning right onto 15th Street from a small cul-de-sac called Michael Place when it struck the boy.
Friends of the boy’s family who gathered at the scene said the boy attended Newport Heights Elementary School a few blocks away.
On Wednesdays, some students are let out at 1:15 p.m., a few minutes before the crash was reported at 1:26 p.m.
California Highway Patrol officers are handling the investigation because the trash truck is operated by CR&R, a city contractor, police said.
The truck’s driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation, according to police.
“Obviously he’s very distraught,” Brouwer said.
Investigators haven’t been able to find anyone who witnessed the crash, Brouwer said.
Police are unsure whether the boy was wearing a helmet.
Gina Cereda, whose son is a friend of the boy’s, said the boy always wore a helmet when riding.
She called him a “great, cautious” kid.
Cereda took a small vase of white flowers to the scene because, she said, she didn’t know what else to do.
As Cereda listened to a police lieutenant recite the few details investigators know at this point, she wondered what she should tell her children about what happened.
They had seen the boy a few days ago at a sleepover, she said.
“We all went to the beach together just a few weeks ago,” she said.
Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck
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