Misadventure verdict at inquest of boy (10) who died after being hit by van in Shannon

A 10-year-old boy who died after being hit by a van had no clear view of oncoming traffic due to parked cars, and the van driver had no view of him as he stepped on to the road from between the vehicles, an inquest has heard.Parking has since been recessed at the residential location in Shannon, Co Clare, and a zebra crossing installed where Dylan Coady-Coleman, of Corrib Drive, was struck by the van shortly after 2pm on February 25th, 2024. Dylan died three days later in Temple Street children’s hospital. The inquest at Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard Dylan, a fourth class pupil at St Tola’s National School in Shannon, had pancakes before going out to meet a friend. READ MORE“I was going for a nap as Dylan was leaving the house at about 1.50pm,” said his mother Laura in a deposition. Dylan called to his friend’s house and the child’s mother told him her son was in a nearby playground. “I was woken from my sleep by Gary [Dylan’s father] telling me Dylan had been knocked down.”A Garda map of the location, displayed in court, showed a small pedestrian path leading to the roadside where cars were parked. Sean Birchall, who was driving the van, was on his way to Shannon town centre just after 2pm.“There were a number of cars parked on left-hand side. The cars were completely next to me,” he told the court. “I heard a sudden impact.” Birchall said he was in second gear and “not going fast”. He got out of the van and “saw the boy on the road” with someone tending to him. He asked someone to call an ambulance and he called gardaí. “There was nothing I could do to avoid him,” he said, adding that the parked cars were “relevant” to what happened. Garda Seamus Gleeson attended the scene. He said Birchall failed a roadside drugs test. He arrested him and brought him to the station where a blood test later showed no traces of drugs. Birchall faced no charges as a result of the incident. “It was just a road traffic accident, just an accident. No one was at fault,” said Gleeson. Sgt Niamh Brosnan, a forensic collision investigator, said the road had a 50km/h speed limit and there were no tyre or skid marks to suggest Birchall deployed emergency breaking. “Excessive speed was not an issue,” she said. Dylan collided with the left side of the van and was carried for some metres on the bonnet before sliding on to the road. There was minimal damage to the vehicle. He had stepped out on to the road from between parked cars and would not have been visible to Birchall, Brosnan said. The boy would not have had “a clear view” of traffic oncoming from the right, she said.She noted there were no yellow markings prohibiting parking at the point where the path led to the roadside.Tom Mellet, a senior engineer with Clare County Council, said parking was now recessed in that area to allow pedestrians a clear view of traffic. A zebra crossing has been installed and additional traffic calming measures were also implemented. A postmortem found that Dylan died at 11.12am on February 28th, 2024, as a result of catastrophic head injuries. Coroner Clare Keane returned a verdict of misadventure. “Tragically Dylan was non visible due to his position behind the car, and we also learned in evidence he didn’t have vision [of the van],” she said. “Dylan’s intention was to cross the road and the outcome was an unintended one.”Speaking outside the court, Dylan’s mother Laura said her son was a “lovely, busy, bubbly, boy”. “We miss him so much, but all the changes that have now been made to a highly dangerous road, which was the one unfortunately Dylan and his friends walked daily, were eventually brought about, sadly too late for my beautiful little boy.” Dylan’s organs were donated and saved several children’s lives.