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An 86 year old woman and her grandson were knocked down in Belize City this morning.  It happened at the intersection of Dean Street and Amara Avenue- an area which has seen pedestrian accidents before.  

And that’s just what happened with 8 year old Nickolia Tun, and his 86 year old grandmother, Gudelia Estephan who was walking her to school.  

Security video from a nearby business shows exactly what happened when they tried to cross the street:

This woman and her grandchild were almost halfway across Amara Avenue when the driver of this red truck hit them. The impact sent them tumbling over on the pavement. She was taking her grandson to St. Ignatius School.

Voice of Eyewitness
"Well what I see is one of the vehicles cross and then the red vehicle stop at the lane and after the first one pass because you know it’s right and if you are in the right away so after that he just turn and when he turn, he didn’t see the lady and the little boy. When he hit them, then he conscious he hit somebody."

The driver quickly rushed out of the vehicle to assist.

Voice of Eyewitness
"But he was there for them, he didn’t move. He lay down over them, the police really had to lift him up because he didn’t want to move."

Later on, the police and ambulance arrived and took the woman and her grandchild to the hospital. It is not clear if the truck was too high for the driver to see them passing in front, if he was distracted, or if the woman thought she could have made it across in time but the story is none of them saw or braced for the accident that was bound to happen.

Voice of Eyewitness
"He didn’t see them, if he saw them he would have stopped. He didn’t see them and apparently they say the lady is deaf so maybe she didn’t hear the vehicle."

Courtney Weatherburne
"None of them saw each other nor recognized when they were going or coming?"

Voice of Eyewitness
"No one of them. The lady got her hand peeled and she hurt her back because she held her back."

Fortunately it wasn’t fatal but one concerned resident says if something isn’t done about this dangerous intersection soon, one of these days, one accident will be.

Voice of Eyewitness
"They should either put light or bump and sometimes they don’t even respect the bump, they still bring their wheel over so. They need to make a choice because this is a bust corner and every day, even the police sometimes don’t even stop at Dean street, they fly pass so they are the example."

The 8 year old Tun received only minor injuries and was treated and released; while his grandmother Estephan received multiple injuries to the body and is admitted at KHMH on observation.

The driver of the red pickup, 49 year old Martin Franklin Reyes was issued with a notice of intended prosecution.