Raleigh Christmas Parade fatality

In the city of Raleigh North Carolina, 20-year-old identified as Landen Christopher Glass, was arrested for the death of 11-year-old Hailey Brooks. Landen allegedly lost control of a truck that hit and killed a girl participating in a Christmas parade in Raleigh, on Saturday morning. The truck was pulling a float that was in the parade behind girls with the CC & CO, Dance Complex. Landen has five pending charges including misdemeanor death by motor vehicle, carless and reckless, improper equipment, unsafe movement, and carrying a firearm in a parade. 

“The girls kept dancing, and then very quickly parted as the truck moved through them. There were more dancers than this group. We were all, I think wondering if it was part of the parade,” a woman who saw the accident told WRAL-TV. Glass was shouting that he couldn’t control the pickup before it crashed, witnesses said. Another bystander said she saw the girl on the ground with a blanket covering her. Others reported hearing tires screeching, screaming, the vehicle’s horn blaring at the time of the accident. “We started dancing in the parade, and then all of a sudden, we just heard a lot of honking,” fellow dancer Olivia Bruce, 14, told the News & Observers. “And when we turn our back, we saw the truck almost on our backs, so we turned away.” 

According to the police reports, Glass told investigators he had recently done work on the brakes of his vehicle. The same police reports show Glass was cited for numerous traffic violations on Oct. 30, including failing to have his vehicle inspected. WRAL investigators confirmed the traffic stop was conducted on the same vehicle that was in the parade. “it’s an insane situation. I can only imagine what he was going through as he knew he didn’t have any control of the situation,” shop owner Marcus Best said. Witnesses told WRAL investigators the driver was yelling to warn the group of dancers that something was wrong. At this point, it’s unclear if he took any other actions to try to stop the truck, including putting it in neutral or risk applying the parking brake with a float of parade participants behind him. 

Glass’s court date is scheduled to take place on January 26th of 2023.