Girl, 7, Fatally Struck By Tractor On Her Way To School
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A child who was crossing the street with her mother on the way to school has died after she was struck by a tractor leased to the Chicago Streets and Sanitation.
Police say Samyra Lee was crossing against the light at 65th and Ashland and waiting in the middle when the tractor hit her around 8 a.m..
The Providence Englewood Charter School is across the street from where the girl was hit.
She was transported to the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital in grave condition, where she was pronounced dead.
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"This is just going to be something that's just too hard to accept. I know we're not supposed to question God, but it just makes you lose so much faith right now," the girl's aunt, Nesia Lee, tells WBBM.
She said her niece already made a list of what she wanted to do this summer: go to Great America, to Walt Disney World and to the beach.
New Affairs Officer Nicole Trainor said the child was hit by a truck with a trailer attached.
The vehicle was being leased by the city to perform landscaping work but, according to police, was not driven by a city worker.
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According to police, the mother was also struck.
She sustained a minor hip injury.
The driver of the tractor, who did not work for the city, was cited with failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.
"A vendor of the Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) was involved in a tragic accident this morning around 65th and Ashland. The vehicle involved in the crash belonged to the vendor, and the driver was their employee," said Jennifer Martinez, Director of Public Affairs, for Streets and Sanitation.
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