Child dies after Hattieville accident

Tonight we regret to announce that a five-year-old victim of a traffic accident, Tyra Gillett, died early this morning at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Tyra never regained consciousness and doctors had told the family her head and body injuries were so massive it would take a miracle for her to recover. On Friday, Gillett was knocked down on the Boom Hattieville Road as she was crossing the highway to go to a neighbour’s house to play. The driver of the vehicle, identified as George Lewis, a taxi driver from the village, was detained but never charged. According to authorities, none of the villagers who claimed to have witnessed the mid-afternoon crash came forward to make a statement, and the police say they have no evidence to suggest that Lewis was at fault. Area residents did acknowledge that Lewis was travelling within the speed limit of fifty-five miles an hour. Shortly after the child was knocked down, a group of angry neighbours and relatives gathered at the scene to voice their concerns. The villagers say for sometime now they have been lobbying for a safer highway, but nothing has been done. Because the road runs through their growing community, they feel that either the speed limit should be reduced or speed bumps erected.