Child killed in island traffic mishap

These are not good times for Belize’s children. This morning saw yet another tragic death of a young one, this time in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. I visited the town earlier today and discovered that the same type of mishaps that plague the city are also occurring at the caye.

Residents of Laguna Street in the Boca Del Rio Area were just getting out of bed when they heard a horrifying scream. On the street was neighbour Oneida Lara. In her arms she was holding her 2-year old son, Jonathon Mauricio Lara. The little boy lay dead in his mother’s arm after being hit by a school van that came to pick up his sister.

Jacqueline Woods

“The bus driver had come to the Lara’s residence to pick up the families 6-year old daughter. It is not clear what happened next, but as he pulled away from the area, he ran over 2-year old Mauricio Lara.”

53-year old Gabriel Clark who works for the New Horizons Seventh Day Academy says he had just started his rounds and the Lara’s residence is his first regular stop.

Gabriel Clark, Driver

“She is the first child I picked up every morning because she was the first when I go, after her house, I pick up two other houses. But she is the first when I pick up, because she is always ready and they had a van, a pickup near the park, where the three of them, the mother, the daughter and the little boy are always sitting there. And this morning, and always in the morning sometimes I ask her and where is Jonathon. But this morning when I saw her coming, walking, so I thought that the little boy was sleeping.”

Clark says he was sitting inside the vehicle waiting for Lara’s daughter to get inside the van. Clark says as he waited the student’s mother walked up to him and they started talking. He says he did not see the young boy with his mother when she approached him.

Gabriel Clark

“She was coming from about 25 yards from where I had stopped to picked up the little girl. She was coming alone, so after she spoke to me, I saw her go behind the van.”

Lara says she cannot remember where her son was at the time of the accident and Clark says he was not aware that he had hit the boy until a man who was coming in the opposite direction alerted him to the tragedy.

>Gabriel Clark

“A gentleman who was coming on a bicycle and informed me saying you knocked down a little boy. I was astonished, because I did not feel, I didn’t see anybody in front of me, and I didn’t feel anything. So I reverse back the van about 30 feet from the scene and I came outside and when I look, the mother had the little boy in her hand. I immediately went back to the van, I swung around and we picked him up and we came to the clinic.”

Lara received severe head injuries and died on the spot.

Clark was immediately detained by police and has been charged with manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct and driving without due care and attention.

Clark was escorted to Belize City by San Pedro Police and appeared in Magistrate’s Court. Clark was offered bail in the amount of $3,500, which he met. The case has been adjourned until June 28th.