Teen girl fatally struck by truck
By
Terry Davidson ,Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 08:27 AM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 09:27 PM EDT
TORONTO - Students and staff at a North York high school remembered Violet Liang Tuesday as a smart and happy teen who was excited to be entering Grade 10.
Liang, 14, was fatally struck just before 8 a.m. Tuesday morning by a waste disposal truck while at the intersection of Lamberton Blvd. and Sentinel Dr. — in the Finch Ave. W.-Keele St. area.
Liang was walking to her high school, C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute, when a massive truck hit her outside Elia Middle School, where she had attended Grades 7 and 8.
C.W. Jefferys principal Monday Gala called Liang an academically-gifted student who was part of the school’s Esteem enrichment program for science, math and technology.
“Today we were visited by a tragic event,” said Gala.
He suggested Liang may have set forth from home early to get a jump on the first day of school, describing the teen as “90%” student who “enriched” C.W. Jeffreys’ environment.
Throughout Tuesday afternoon, vehicles packed the driveway of the Grandravine Dr. home where Liang lived with her family.
And while her family members declined to speak to reporters, next-door neighbour Mario Decicco talked with tears in his eyes of the little girl he watched grow into a high-achieving and happy teenager.
“(Growing up) she played with my niece — in the grass, in the backyard,” said Decicco, adding that Liang had been living there with her parents and two older sisters for almost 10 years.
Toronto Police Const. Clint Stibbe said the 41-year-old driver of the truck had been making a left off Sentinel onto Lamberton when Liang was hit.
For a good part of Tuesday morning, a student’s backpack and a pool of blood marked where she was struck down.
The truck, a dumpster hauler that reportedly belongs to Skystar Disposal and Demolition Ltd., was cordoned off on the road with police tape.
A company spokesman could not be reached for comment.
Merde Ozdemir, a Grade 11 student, said those who knew the teen are in shock.
“She was young, (and) she was just starting a brand new year of school,” said Ozdemir, who added Liang had a small-but-devoted group of close friends.
Resident Waris Khan, 69, called the intersection notoriously for bad driving.
“A lot of speeding, and sometimes people don’t stop at the stop signs,” said Khan.
This tragedy is eerily similar to that of five-year-old Kayleigh Callaghan-Belanger, who was killed by a City of Toronto garbage truck in a Scarborough neighbourhood last March.
Teen girl fatally struck by truck | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun
High school student struck and killed by truck on first day of school
September 3, 2013
Violet Liang, 14, was pronounced dead at the scene on Sentinel Road near Lamberton Boulevard.
High school student struck and killed by truck on first day of school | CityNews
Memorial grows for teen struck and killed by truck
September 3, 2013
A memorial continues to grow at the sight where a 14-year-old girl was struck and killed by a truck near C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute,
Memorial grows for teen struck and killed by truck | CityNews