A busy school day on a very busy street in Lake Independence made for a terrible tragedy this morning. At around 8:30, 8 year old student Shantay Garnett was darting across Mahogany street to purchase a pencil. Eyewitnesses say she managed to dodge a vehicle in one lane, but was unable to do the same in the other lane and she was hit...by of all things, an ambulance rushing to the hospital. Tonight the child is in critical condition, and our Alfonso Noble has been following the story.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
"Be alert accidents hurt." It's a public caution pasted unto the bumper of this ambulance which in a cruel contradiction is the same bumper that tonight has 8 year old Shantay Garnett in a critical condition at the KHMH. Just after 8:30 this morning, the standard one student left St. Luke's Methodist reportedly to go buy a pencil and was run over at the intersection of Mahogany and Partridge streets. The ambulance was transporting a patient from Belmopan to Belize for a CAT scan. And while it may have been an emergency run, eyewitnesses say there was no way anyone on the street could have known about it.
Kirk Davis, Shantay's Uncle
"The ambulance was bringing in some sort of emergency from Belmopan and they took the back street; the busy street where all the school children are without siren or no light and caused the little girl to get knocked down."
Knocked down and run over, reportedly by both front and rear wheels. And doctors say the massive impact has left Shantay with major head trauma and possible abdominal trauma.
Today, only the steady report of a heart monitor was keeping hope alive for her family today. While grandmother Yvonne Thompson looked on, her mother held her child's limp hand in her grip wearily shaking her head, stunned that what started as a normal day could have turned into this disaster.
Yvonne Thompson, Shantay's Grandmother
"The little girl left from our house early this morning to go to school. She doesn't live with me but she came to look for me before she went to school. And then afterwards her uncle came and told me that an ambulance had just knocked her down."
"I was told the ambulance didn't have any sirens. It only had a light. If it had the sirens then the little girl would have heard and then…[Wiping Away Tears]…she would have moved out of the way."
"At the speed he was going they say he knocked down the little girl." [Sobbing]
And as Shantay was taken for a CAT scan, her fate is still unknown, but the lessons of this morning are completely clear.
Kirk Davis, Shantay's Uncle
"1: Unequipped vehicles should not be on the road. 2: Especially emergency vehicles if it is not equipped with sirens, lights, and everything. It should not be on the road. It should not be operating and I feel that this man should be charged the right and proper way for this little girl's accident this morning."
The family calls for justice, but police are presently investigating to determine whether or not the driver of the ambulance Donald Smith will be charged.