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Sidney Olson was on her way to art class with her mom when she was hit and killed by the truck while crossing the street at Elm Square on May 9. She died at the scene, according to authorities.
The Essex County District Attorney's Office, which investigated the incident, said the driver could not have seen the girl before he hit her.
“The investigative findings do not provide sufficient evidence to seek criminal charges against the driver of the tractor-trailer. The driver was stopped at the intersection. As he began to advance forward on the light turning green, he was unable to see Ms. Olson traveling on her scooter in the crosswalk below. The driver was not impaired by any substances and immediately came to a controlled stop after the collision.”
Sidney’s family said in a statement in May that she and another family member were on the crosswalk with the walk sign showing it was safe to cross. They were walking on a route they’d followed “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.
They described her as a “fiercely creative” girl who would style “her own outfits,” choreograph her own performances and memorize the lyrics to a Taylor Swift song.
The family also called on town officials to fix the intersection, which is known to be dangerous.
“While we’re not engineers, we also know our community can do better,” they wrote. “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.”
Sidney’s family and friends have since created GoFundMe pages in her honor, which raised more than $58,000.
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