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Brave big sister acts as human shield as truck smashes into her brothers

This is so sad

By Practical Parenting team

November 01 2018

Alivia Stahl, a nine-year-old girl, tried to shield her twin brothers with her own body as a truck smashed into them as they crossed the road to board their school bus.

The little girl tried desperately to save her twin brothers, Xzavier and Mason Ingle, six.

According to their uncle, Elgin Ingle, Alivia acted as a hero before the accident. She was holding her brothers' hands as they crossed the road and when she saw the truck hurtling towards them, she tried to shield them from the collision.

Her uncle revealed, 'To her I say, 'Way to be a badass, man.' She had a split second to think of what to do, and she chose to shield her brothers with that split second.'

WSBT-TV/Facebook

Unfortunately the impact was too great and all three children died at the scene and sadly the children's mum watched the whole tragedy unfold.

The accident happened at 7.15am in Indiana, USA, as the children crossed a two-lane road from their home to board the bus.

As they crossed the road, they were struck by a Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck. Another school child, 11-year-old Maverik Lowe, who is not related to the others, suffered multiple broken bones and was rushed the hospital in critical condition. Police say the siblings' dad came to scene to identify his children.

The driver of the pickup truck has been identified as 24-year-old Alyssa Shepherd.

Indiana State Police

She was arrested and charged with three counts of reckless homicide and one misdemeanor count of disregarding a stop sign and causing injury.

Sgt. Tony Slocum, from the police said the whole community was stunned by the tragedy.

'I haven't seen first responders and troopers cry in a long time,' he said. 'When the children's father had to make identification of his children, that was just gut-wrenching. We saw tears today and our hearts just go out to them because most of us have children and we can't imagine the pain that he felt today. It was heartbreaking. It's still heartbreaking.'

Their uncle said his brother, the children's father, is heartbroken over the loss of his children "He didn't lose one kid. He lost all of his kids. 'What do you tell your little brother, who's gonna get better? You can't,' he said. 'I watched my brother change his whole life around. Now they're gone because someone wasn't paying attention.'