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A community in St. Paul, Minnesota is trying to understand why a 17 year-old high school student was pushed into oncoming traffic and killed.

The accident which happened Tuesday (March 16) left one student dead and a community in shock; after Isaiah Vinson, a student at Central High School, who according to police, appeared to have been engaging in horseplay with other students when he was pushed into the roadway and hit by a City maintenance Truck.

“We’re still shocked, just kind of wondering exactly what happened and why it happened,” Beverly Johnson, Isaiah Vinson’s aunt, said.  “He had a smile that just brightened up the room.”

While at first police weren’t sure if there had been an argument and Isaiah was pushed intentionally, investigators now say at this point witness accounts lead them to believe it was likely an accident. They hope finding more witnesses will help fill in missing details.

The truck driver, a 52-year old that has been with the City of St. Paul for over six years, is not found to have been under the influence nor at fault for the accident.

“The way it happened, there was no way for him to swerve; there was no way for him to hit the brakes. It’s just too bad,” says Brad Meyer, with the St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department.

Yesterday (March 17), family and friends gathered at a memorial that was created on the sidewalk.  As the memorial continued to grow, the hugs between family and friends got longer. For them, it’s not easy to understand how a young life could end too soon and so suddenly.