As 2022 draws to a close, we’re looking back at the top 10 Burnaby news stories of the year.
Yesterday, we brought you a reminder of international soccer star Christine Sinclair’s amazing year.
Today, we recap the tragic death of 14-year-old Muska Behzad, a Byrne Creek Community School Grade 8 student who was hit by a dump truck on May 5 as she was walking home from school.
'I started crying, crying, crying'
Emergency crews responded to reports of a pedestrian-involved collision near 11th Avenue and 16th street at about 3:25 p.m. on May 5, according to a police press release at the time.
At the scene, they found a 14-year-old girl who had been hit by a dump truck pulling a trailer.
A short walk away, Muska Behzad’s father, Lutfullah, who had seen the emergency vehicles, was worried his daughter was late coming home from school.
Questions to police at the scene soon confirmed his worst fears. His daughter was dead.
"I started crying, crying, crying," he told the NOW in an interview.
Muska had come to Canada from Afghanistan with her mother and siblings in 2020 to join her father who had arrived as a refugee in 2018.
“When you come from Afghanistan, with the thinking that I will be living peacefully, I will be living longer because there will be no mine explosions, no suicide bombers, and when you come to Canada and those terrible things happening to you, it’s the saddest, the saddest moment.”
Public outrage
The personal tragedy soon turned to outrage from neighbours who said they had complained to the city for years about truck traffic in the area and the fact there was no sidewalk along a stretch of 11th Avenue.
The truck involved in the accident was associated with the nearby Southgate City construction site, and real estate developer Ledingham McAllister shut down heavy truck traffic for several days.
The company installed a temporary asphalt sidewalk on 11th Avenue and redirected the trucks.
In September, the city announced it, too, was working on safety improvements in the area.
At a council meeting in May, Mayor Mike Hurley said the accident was being "thoroughly" investigated by the RCMP.
"If the results of this investigation show the city could have done something different to prevent this tragedy, we will make all the changes needed immediately," he said.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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