The Andover, MA community is mourning the loss of Sidney Mae Olson, a 5-year-old girl who was crossing a busy intersection with her family when she was hit by a tractor-trailer. The family was on their way to an art class and had the right of way as they – along with several others – crossed the street.
After receiving several 911 calls, the police arrived around 5:15 p.m. and the little girl was pronounced dead at the scene. None of the other pedestrians were hit or injured, but they were taken to the hospital for a routine evaluation. The driver immediately stopped the vehicle and has cooperated with police.
“On behalf of the Town of Andover, I express our sincere condolences to the family of the child whose life was tragically cut short. We share in the grief that has been expressed by members of our community over the past twenty-four hours,” said Andover Town Manager Andrew Flanagan in a recent statement.
A statement released by the family is urging the community to learn from their recent loss and take the necessary steps to ensure something like this doesn’t happen to another family. They complained that the intersection has been considered dangerous for some time, but nothing has ever been done about it.
“This intersection has long been considered dangerous,” the family wrote in the statement. “While we’re not engineers, we also know our community can do better. We hope the town makes fast changes to that and other high-traffic intersections so no one has to experience the pain we feel right now.”
We have since learned that the driver was driving a Sysco truck – a company that sells, markets, and distributes food and non-food products to various companies. The company released a statement following the tragic accident, offering their condolences and sending their prayers to the little girl’s family.
“The Sysco family is heartbroken to learn of the tragic death of a pedestrian today in an incident involving one of our vehicles from Sysco Boston,” Sysco wrote in the statement. “We are cooperating fully with law enforcement and are conducting our own internal investigation to understand how this tragedy occurred.”
In the family’s recent statement, they explained that they’ve crossed that street hundreds of times before. “The rest was a blur, and Sidney was struck by a truck and killed, leaving an impossible void in our lives,” the family wrote – describing their 5-year-old daughter as a ‘bright-eyed, energetic girl with springy curls.’
They remember her as ‘fiercely creative’ and very artistic – always picking out her own outfits, always choreographing dances and performances, and always creating unique art pieces to put on display in their home. She loved picking out flowers, was a huge fan of Taylor Swift, and loved to explore nature.
Sidney Mae Olson was also praised for the unconditional love she shared with those she encountered. This was evidenced by her most recent birthday party, which was rainbow-themed – her reasoning behind wanting a rainbow-themed birthday party was because ‘it includes everyone’s favorite color.’
“Our greatest hope is that Sidney’s boundless love for everyone encourages others to look out for the common good of our community following this tragedy,” the family added in their statement. A vigil to honor Sidney Mae Olson was held on Thursday as community members gathered in support of the family.
