Yesterday, the Kansas City Police Department released a report on the
accident exonerating the Kansas City Fire Department in the death of 7-year-old Obarimomoya Nkani, who was hit and killed by a fire truck answering a call on March 2.
The Nkani family had raised questions as to
whether the pumper's lights and sirens were on when Obarimomoya ran in front it as the truck approached the intersection of 9th and Euclid. The report answered
those questions, saying the fire truck's lights and sirens were blaring as the
pumper approached the intersection. It lists accounts from eyewitnesses
who
saw the lights, heard the sirens and got out of the way. Witnesses also
said they saw Pumper 10 skid when the brakes were applied and swerve in an attempt to
miss the
boy.
Factors in the crash: the boy's age and the fact that another child was encouraging the
boy to hurry and cross the street as the fire truck was coming and lack
of supervision.
It's
hard not to feel like the report blames the little boy. But if there
wasn't a report, we'd be calling for an investigation. Just because we
can't hang this death on the KCFD doesn't mean there's a cover up. This was a horrible accident.
The truck's driver, Christopher DuPaul, has to live with what happened. DuPaul passed a sobriety test. He tried to swerve. He
tried to stop. He couldn't. Wrong place. Wrong time. A kid dies. It's not fair. It's
shitty. For the Nkani family, DuPaul and everyone there that day.
I hope they can find
some peace.
Comments (0)