Teen Dies After Stunt With Bucket Truck

Birthdays are usually a time of celebration. For one North Lauderdale family, however, what should have been a day of celebration of a teen’s 16th birthday turned into one of mourning earlier this month.

NBC Miami reports that on Sunday, December 1st, in the 4900 block of North State Road 7 at approximately 2:40 p.m., a 15-year-old boy was riding his bike when he was run over and killed.

According to the Broward County Sheriff’s office, Lasvillie Sean Edwards Jr. of North Lauderdale was riding on State Road 7 when he grabbed on to a pickup truck to hitch a ride.  Eyewitnesses told Sheriff’s deputies that Edwards had grabbed the handle on the passenger side of a Freightliner bucket truck belonging to Broward County.

Authorities say that the truck driver made a right turn at 49th Street.  It was then that the teen lost control of his bicycle and rolled under the wheels of the truck, killing him.

Edwards would have turned 16 the following day.

The truck driver, Earl Hayes, 57, stayed at the scene of the fatal crash and cooperated fully with Broward County Sheriff’s Office traffic homicide investigators. The deadly crash is still currently under investigation.

Friends of the teen have made fundraising efforts to help the family pay for funeral and other expenses.