Four-Year-Old Killed in Grivitsa Crash as Driver, Reported as 18 or 19, Is Detained
A four-year-old child was struck and killed by a jeep in the village of Grivitsa, in Bulgaria’s Pleven region, on Saturday afternoon, an incident that prompted a protest outside the driver’s home and a reinforced police presence in the village, nova.bg reported.
The crash occurred at about 3:30 p.m. in the center of the village, when the driver — described as 18 years old in nova.bg’s report and as 19 in reports by dnes.dir.bg, 24chasa.bg and bTV Novinite — hit the child while the child was crossing the roadway. The impact was fatal and the child died at the scene, according to the outlets.
The driver, operating a Suzuki, was tested for alcohol and drugs, and both tests came back negative, Mariana Tsvetkova, spokesperson for the Pleven Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior, told bTV Novinite and dnes.dir.bg. bTV Novinite reported, and has been detained for 24 hours at the First District Police Department in Pleven.
Relatives Gather at Village Square, Then at Driver’s Home
The death immediately sparked tension in Grivitsa. Relatives and family members of the child, along with other villagers, gathered at the central square to express their grief and anger, nova.bg and dnes.dir.bg reported. The crowd then moved to protest in front of the detained driver’s home, according to nova.bg and 24chasa.bg.
To keep the situation from escalating, reinforced police units, including Gendarmerie personnel, were deployed to the village, nova.bg, dnes.dir.bg and 24chasa.bg reported. Tsvetkova told dnes.dir.bg that the tension in the village had been brought under control.
Details Still Being Established
The circumstances of the crash remain under investigation. dnes.dir.bg reported that the speed at which the vehicle was traveling and the conditions under which the child was crossing the road are still to be established.
A String of Child Pedestrian Accidents in Recent Days
The Grivitsa tragedy is the latest in a series of serious road incidents involving children in Bulgaria in recent days, dnes.dir.bg noted. On November 3, a 10-year-old was hit at a crosswalk in Gorna Oryahovitsa and hospitalized with a broken leg. A day later, a 14-year-old boy was injured in a similar incident in Burgas. Earlier in the Pleven region, a six-year-old boy was struck by a car in Pordim in August, and an eight-year-old was injured at a crosswalk in Cherven Bryag in July. In July, a 26-year-old man was killed in a head-on collision with a public transport bus while making a left turn on the road between Grivitsa and Zgalevo, dnes.dir.bg reported.
Questions Readers Are Asking About the Grivitsa Crash
Was the driver under the influence of alcohol or drugs? No. Both tests administered to the driver returned negative results, according to Mariana Tsvetkova of the Pleven Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior, as reported by bTV Novinite and dnes.dir.bg.
How old is the detained driver? Outlets differ: nova.bg reported him as 18, while dnes.dir.bg, 24chasa.bg and bTV Novinite reported him as 19. He is being held for 24 hours at the First District Police Department in Pleven.
What is still unknown about the crash? dnes.dir.bg reported that investigators still need to establish the vehicle’s speed and the conditions under which the four-year-old was crossing the road in the center of Grivitsa.
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