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Another very tragic accident.
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Yorkshire Evening Post
January 18, 2008
Escaped toddler dies in tragic taxi accident
A toddler was run over and killed by a taxi after he escaped from home while his parents unloaded bags from a shopping trip.
Loveable Joshua Bentley, just 16-months old, died from massive head injuries as the taxi he and his parents had just used reversed over him on the family driveway. He had got out through the open house door, an inquest heard today.
The baby was discovered lifeless on the road outside the family home in Shipley following the accident that ended young Joshua's short life moments after.
The taxi driver was not even aware of what he had done.
Joshua was rushed to Bradford Royal Infirmary after the accident in July last year, after suffering a fractured skull and brain haemorrhaging.
He showed minor signs of life upon arrival, but doctors who battled desperately to revive him were sadly unsuccessful.
The parents, Jennifer Thompson, 20, and Neil Bentley, 37, had been shopping at a nearby supermarket, from which they returned using the taxi that killed their son.
After arriving home, Jennifer put her son in the living room to play with his toy garage, thinking he would be safe and occupied as she and dad, Neil, carried the shopping and pushchair from the taxi to the family's kitchen.
But when the father brought through the last load, both parents realised that Joshua was no longer where they had left him.
To their horror he had escaped through the open front door, unknown to taxi driver Charles Carberry, 58, who was reversing out of the driveway.
The cabbie failed to spot the tiny toddler - described by the mother in her statement read out to Bradford Cornoners Court "very quick on his feet" - running behind his Skoda Octavia, until his little body was picked up moments later by terrified Jennifer, who had rushed out to see her son lying in the road.
Neil was so shocked by the accident he was unable to ring an ambulance at first.
Her statement read: "When I saw him I thought he was just playing. But when I picked him up there was blood all over his head. I didn't know what to do."
A neighbour who had heard Jennifer's terrifying scream and saw blood on the road assisted and drove the family to an ambulance he had seen parked close by. The ambulance had been there by chance, giving the worried couple a glimmer of hope. However, the lucky coincidence was not enough to save Joshua's life.
Distraught cab driber Charles, from Bingley, said: "I felt a bump as I reversed but I thought I had just hit a pothole or a manhole cover. It wasn't until I saw someone run out and pick up something that I realised what had happened. Somebody shouted 'he's not breathing'. I was so terrified I just sat there in the cab. I couldn't move."
Recording a verdict of accidental death Coroner Roger Whittaker said: "I heed the mother's point that this child was a good walker for his age and was a very fast mover. At just 85cm tall and moving quickly he would have been very difficult to see.
"He was struck by the car and fell under the vehicle, sustaining terrible injuries which were unsurvivable.
"The only comfort for the family is that given the nature of his injuries, Joshua would have known nothing more after he received them. The family have my deepest sympathies in this most tragic of accidents."
The family were too upset to speak after the case.
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