Fifteen-year-old Sheldon Graham is currently in critical condition after being hit by a vehicle on the Sheffield main road in Westmoreland on Monday while running back and forth across the roadway.
The teen reportedly had severe ADHD and was a student of the Llandilo School of Special Education. The school’s principal, Roy Reid, disclosed to The Jamaica Gleaner that on the day of the incident, Graham left school before the institution’s regular time of dismissal.
Reid disclosed that Graham was able to function safely when he was receiving his prescribed medication. However, whenever the school suspected that he was not on his medication and he was behaving unsettled, they recommended an early pickup.
“The medication would calm him down because he’s very hyperactive when he’s not on medication… It’s extremely difficult to keep him in school so that he’s safe and other children are safe when he’s not on medication… I did recommend to the teacher assistant that they need to call the parent to pick him up because that’s what we do when we suspect that he’s not on medication,” he noted.
Reports state that Graham’s private driver picked him up at 12 o’clock; however, the teen did not go home. In a video circulating on social media, Graham can be seen jogging across the road as vehicles pass by, at times stopping on the white lines on the roadway.
The boy was eventually hit by a passing car after he darted into its path.
The video was recorded by a woman at the scene, who shared with The Jamaica Observer that she and other passersby tried to intervene, but the teen would not listen.
“Everybody is traumatised. I am traumatised. As a matter of fact, I haven’t slept since the incident because we spoke with him so many times. He kept middling the road — white lines on opposite sides,” the woman said.
The woman and other witnesses at the scene also shared with the news outlet that Graham said that he wanted to kill himself when they tried to convince him to stop. Despite leaving after he received a taxi fare to go home, reports state that the teen returned to the area after going halfway.
“I was taking a video so that I could give an account for whichever taxi he took. I saw him going across the road, and I thought he was going to go home. I did not know that it was a suicidal attempt… Clearly it was a suicidal attempt if he said he wanted to kill himself,” the woman disclosed.
The woman also shared that before he had been hit by the vehicle, Graham’s driver came to the area and told him that his father said that he should go home. However, he ignored the driver’s attempts to have him leave the area just as he had the others.
