What do you do after you accidentally kill a child?
November 25, 2024 at 07:40PMTwenty people are killed by moving vehicles every day in the US. Obviously, we grieve for the deceased, and often the driver is at fault. But not always. What about the drivers—the people on their way to work or the grocery store or to pick the kids up from soccer—who started their days normally and then became killers by accident? Ryan Nickerson was behind the wheel of his pickup in the wee hours of July 20, 2017, when he hit 10-year-old Kennadē Patterson as she darted across a dark highway. Kennadē did not survive. Joshua St. Clair’s sensitive but unflinching profile walks us down Ryan’s hard road toward forgiveness.
His mom drives him home.
He hugs his wife. He goes to bed to try and sleep. Mostly, he just cries.
Addie is gone. At daycare.
His newborn, Reese, is at home. At noon, Reese is hungry. He sits on the living room carpet with her in his arms. They are watching television. He is feeding his baby from the bottle when the news comes on.
He sees his face.
He sees his truck.
And then he sees her picture.
She is wearing white. White pants and white shirt and a white hairband with a flower. She is standing with one hand on her hip and one on a tree and she is smiling. She is not a woman, like they told him.
She is 10.
She is a kid.
That’s how he finds out he killed a kid: watching the news.
His wife comes into the room and takes their baby from his arms. He is shaking violently and crying.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/11/25/what-do-you-do-after-you-accidentally-kill-a-child/
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