7-year-old boy fatally struck by 18-wheeler while riding bike in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE - A young boy was hit and killed by a semi-truck Monday night while riding his bike off Cottondale Drive.
The Baton Rouge Police Department said that the 7-year-old was hit around 7:40 p.m. on Lindale Avenue near the intersection of Cottondale. The coroner's office later identified the boy as Suleiman Hamideh.
The semi-truck was driving east on Lindale when it stopped at Cottondale. The driver then leaned out of the window and advised a nearby crowd to make sure the kids were out of the roadway, police said.
Unbeknownst to the driver of the semi, when he began to move his semi, he struck Hamideh with the rear driver's side tire on his trailer, BRPD added.
Surveillance footage from the truck showed Hamideh riding his bicycle around the front of the semi before he disappeared on the driver's side of the semi, before the driver began to move again.
"It is believed that due to the truck starting again from a full stop, it may have experienced shaking due to having a fully loaded down trailer. This would have potentially made it difficult to feel any disturbances from the impact with the child. The driver was unaware of the child being in the roadway and did not know anyone was struck," police said.
The surveillance footage showed that the driver was traveling between 7 and 12 mph.
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Initial reports indicated that the dead boy was a teenager, but BRPD said Tuesday that the boy was born in 2018.