Advertisement

Family grieves for boy killed by ice cream truck in South L.A.

Share

Family members of a 7-year-old boy who was struck and killed by an ice cream truck gathered outside the family home in South L.A. on Thursday morning, hugging, crying and sharing memories.

“My baby was only 7,” said his mother, Danisha Mitchell, 34, through tears on the porch of the yellow stucco house. “He was going to be 8 years old on Christmas Eve.”

Los Angeles police say the boy, identified by family members as Jamarion Thomas, was riding his motorized bike while holding on to the slow-moving truck when he apparently slipped, fell under the carriage and was run over about 7:10 p.m. Wednesday.

Advertisement

Jamarion’s family disputed that account, saying the third-grader was pushing, not riding, his bike and that he was too small to hold onto the ice cream truck.

Mitchell said Jamarion asked for ice cream money moments before he was struck. She went to get change from her purse and then heard screaming.

“I just ran to where they were screaming,” Mitchell said. “I was sitting there, talking to him, but my baby was already gone.”

His grandmother, Lanora Satterwhite, said a neighbor held her back from going to the crash site, saying, “Don’t go, he’s sleeping.”

Jamarion was rushed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver was attacked by angry residents when he stopped the truck, but he was not hospitalized. The man was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and was not arrested, police said.

On Thursday, on a couch inside the home, Satterwhite and the boy’s aunt, Raquel Thomas, started to cry while staring at a photo of Jamarion wearing a Superman T-shirt on Thomas’ phone. More than a half-dozen family members came by within a half-hour to console the mother, grandmother and aunt as they prepared to leave for the coroner’s office.

Advertisement

Neighbors walking by the house stopped outside the white iron gates to express condolences and offer help to the grieving family. Steps away, a small shrine with candles, flowers and stuffed animals continued to grow where Jamarion was hit in the 200 block of East 97th Street.

“The bike is still here, but my nephew is gone,” Thomas said.

The boy loved USC football and the Los Angeles Lakers, said his uncle, Michael Harris, 27. Harris said he was planning to buy tickets to a Lakers game so Jamarion could see his favorite player, Kobe Bryant.

The driver of the ice cream truck has not been identified, but family members said his truck — painted black with red flames and skulls — came through the neighborhood regularly. He didn’t stop until a witness yelled out in Spanish, Harris said.

“I told my nephew we were going to play some football,” he said. “Now we have to bury him.”

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga

Advertisement

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: @VeronicaRochaLA

Advertisement