BONAIRE, Ga. — A Houston County incident report is offering new details about the tragic death of a 9-year-old child in Bonaire, who was run over by a motor grader. That machine, which is used to pave roads, can weigh up to thousands of pounds
The report says two other children witnessed the accident, including the girl's twin brother.
Many of viewers have reached out with other questions, and we tried to get more of them answered.
On Thursday, the neighborhood is remembering the girl for her beauty on the inside and out. People in the Riverbend North subdivision say they hope her family gets the proper justice.
At this time, it's still unknown who was operating the vehicle. Several neighbors say the dirt road has been unpaved for at least a year. Most say that construction crews have been working on the project off and on since the summer.
Neighbors tell us they have seen workers a handful of times, one neighbor shared they see crews working only around noon.
People shared that the only active construction is the four new homes being constructed.
Rod Sutton, an editor with a Construction publication, says he's seen other instances where children have been on construction sites.
"This is the second one in the last couple of months," he said.
Sutton says the first incident they reported on was a child driving off with a construction vehicle.
He says they see more that manufacturers are pushing safety.
"There's been a lot of technology introduced in recent years that have made it harder to start equipment," he said.
Sutton says some of the technology tracks the equipment in real time.
"There are GPS monitors now that can indicate in real time if a piece of machinery is moved outside of a certain space. They call that geo-fencing," he said.
The Houston County Sheriff's Office report does not say who operated the motor grader or how they started it.
"There's really not a whole lot that can be done if a machine is secured and left," Sutton said.
We also reached out to the county attorney's office about whether developers are required by law to secure equipment. They pointed us to the county website, where we have not found a law covering this.
In the incident report, the parents say the twins and one of their friends were playing in the backyard, and they didn't realize they had moved from the backyard and into an undeveloped part of the neighborhood "almost directly behind the residence."
The incident report, however, does not say how the vehicle started or moved.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly called WCH Homes the developer of the Bonaire subdivision. They are not. Instead, Riverbend North — which is owned by Houston County Commissioner Mark Byrd — is the developer in charge of the subdivision. We have corrected this story and the video. You can read WCH, Byrd and Riverbend North's full statements here. We regret the error.
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