An 11-year-old girl was killed during a Christmas parade in North Carolina after a large pickup truck lost brakes and plowed into a group of young performers.
The tragic incident took place in Raleigh where a truck pulling a parade float slammed into little Hailey Brooks after losing breaks during a parade on Saturday.
“All of a sudden we looked up and saw a truck on the other side of the road kind of coming towards us,” one witness recalled in an interview with WRAL.
“They were able to get most of the girls out of the way. Unfortunately, we saw one of the girls get run over.”
While Hailey was immediately rushed to the hospital, she was declared dead shortly after getting crushed by the heavy pickup truck.
The driver of the truck, 20-year-old Landen Christopher Glass, has since been arrested and charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle along with others charges including unsafe movement, improper equipment, carelessness and recklessness.
It also came to light that the young man previously received four citations for failing to get his vehicle inspected, improper equipment, speeding, and tint violations.
As witnesses of the horrific moment recalled, Glass began slamming the horn and yelling for people to get out of the way after he lost his breaks.
The truck eventually came to a stop after several paradegoers helped reduce its speed using their body weight.
Witnesses also suggested that the truck was on a slight decline when the breaks gave up and that the weight of the parade float pushing it from the back likely contributed to things getting out of hand.
Our thoughts remain with Hailey’s family and her dance group during this tragic time.
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