One of the absolute saddest things I have ever done is attend a candlelight vigil for a child. Ian's friend, Imani, died following an accident between a vehicle and his bicycle. He was pinned under the vehicle with his bicycle. People passing by stopped their cars and rushed to assist in lifting the vehicle off of him. He died the next day at Children's Hospital. Words are so inadequate to express the depth of our grief.
From the Buffalo News:
Despite heroic efforts by a group of passers-by, the 12-year-old bicyclist who was freed from beneath a car on Sheridan Drive in the Town of Tonawanda Thursday afternoon has died, police reported Friday.
The boy has been identified as Imani Gilbert, an incoming eighth-grader at Herbert Hoover Middle School.
Imani was on his way to football practice at the nearby middle school when he was struck and pinned beneath the vehicle while crossing Delaware Road at the intersection with Sheridan Drive, Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District officials confirmed. Several passers-by lifted the vehicle off the boy and he was taken to Women & Children’s Hospital.
Among the first on the scene to free Imani were police detectives Ray Marello and Kevin Sweeney and Ellwood Volunteer Fire Company Chief Gary Stuff who joined other witnesses to lift the dark blue Pontiac Vibe, said Lt. Nicholas A. Bado, a department spokesman.
Although police are continuing to investigate the fatal accident, no charges have been filed against the driver, and there was no indication that the motorist, whose name wasn’t released, was at fault, police said. There was no drug, alcohol or cellphone use involved, police said. Further, the driver had the green arrow to turn left onto Sheridan Drive and Imani was not wearing a helmet, Bado said.
The district, meanwhile, was shaken by news that one of its students had been killed in an accident just weeks before school resumes on Sept. 5.
“We’re very familiar with the student – very well-liked, very good student, very involved,” said Carmelina Persico, principal of Hoover Middle, where Imani also played basketball.
Grief counselors from the district’s Family Support Center were made available to the boy’s teammates during a meeting Friday morning, said School Superintendent Mark P. Mondanaro.
“We dispatched grief counselors immediately to deal with any groups of children and adults that knew the child and help them deal with this loss,” said School Board President Bob Dana.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete as Imani’s mother was traveling back from out of town. Persico said she will confer with students about holding a memorial service.
“I think I will give students an opportunity to have that discussion and take part in whatever decision is made,” she said. “Certainly those conversations will take place.
From the Sun Journal, new Bern, North Carolina:
TONAWANDA,
N.Y. - Imani Tyshawn Gilbert, 12, of 30 Chapman Place, died Friday,
Aug. 23, 2013, at Women and Children's Hospital, Buffalo, N.Y.
A
native of Carteret County and an eighth-grade student at Herbert Hoover
Middle School, Tonawanda, died as a result of a bicycle accident.
His
funeral will be is 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013, at Mt. Pilgrim MB
Church, Newport, with the Rev. G. Otis Greene officiating. Burial will
follow in Bayview Cemetery, Morehead City.
He is survived by his
father, Terrance Ferguson of Tonawanda, N.Y., and his mother, Amy
Gilbert of Newport; five brothers, Dominic Ferguson and Gianni Ferguson,
both of Morehead City, Ronell Tupaz Jr. and Curtis Tupaz of
Fayetteville, and Jashawn Finch of Beaufort; six sisters, Brianna Harris
and Adrienne Harris of Newport, Myah Gilbert of Havelock, Zada-Kai
Tupaz and Isis Tupaz, both of Fayetteville and Raelyn Ferguson of
Morehead City; paternal grandparents, Sharon Joyner of New Bern, Alfred
and Tina Henderson of Newport; and great-grandmothers, Ann Elbert of
Morehead City and Hattie Henderson of Bogue Sound.
