st. paul

Alendrea Jenkins placed a yellow rose near the makeshift memorial of candles on the busy St. Paul corner, where hours before she watched her teenage neighbor die in the street.

"He didn't even get a chance to live," she said Tuesday. "He was only 17."

Isaiah Vinson, a junior at Central High School in St. Paul, was killed Tuesday when he was hit about 2:30 p.m. by a St. Paul Parks and Recreation truck at the corner of Lexington Parkway and Selby Avenue. Police are trying to locate the kids who were with Vinson at the time of the accident. "We're trying to get a true account of what happened," St. Paul spokesman Paul Schnell said.

Jenkins was a passenger in a car nearby when she saw the commotion after the truck hit the teenager. Vinson's friends scattered and other kids nearby gathered, Jenkins said. Cars stopped and passersby and people from the corner businesses ran to the street where Vinson lay.

"I wanted to pick him up," said Adrian Keys, who was working at the Lady and the Lion Hair Salon at the corner of Lexington and Selby. She and others called 911. "All I could do ... was wait for help to come."

Keys recognized the teen as someone who walked past the salon nearly every day on his way home from school. They had spoken on occasion, and Keys had offered him a discount to braid his hair.

Antionette Steele also stood by Vinson after she ran out of the corner building where she works at Infinity Tax Services. There was little anyone could do, she said.

One woman tried to pump his chest to keep his heart beating. Another woman prayed. "We just wanted to save him," she said.

Vinson was taken to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Jenkins and others who arrived after the accident were told by kids that Vinson and another teen had been arguing before he was punched in the head, sending him into the street.

But others said there was no fight; it was just "horseplay" among kids.

Schnell said a group of students on the north side of Selby Avenue were waiting to cross Lexington Parkway eastbound when the incident occurred in the southbound lane, he said. Although investigators interviewed some witnesses, several students left the scene before police arrived, he added.

"This was a very hectic scene," Schnell said. "The injuries were very, very severe."

The truck driver had the right of way and was not speeding or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Schnell said. Counseling services will be made available to him.

"This is any motorist's worse nightmare," Schnell said.

City officials said the truck driver has worked as a bricklayer for the Parks and Recreation Department since 2004. An initial review of his record shows he has had no accidents in the past two years, department spokesman Brad Meyer said.

Grief counselors will be available at the school. The school board held a moment of silence during its regular meeting Tuesday night.

Jenkins stood at the corner of Lexington and Selby as dusk began to fall. Eight-year-old J'ianna Cager watched as candles burned in tribute to Vinson. "He was a great cousin," she said. "It makes me really sad."

Jenkins, who saw Vinson as he left for school Tuesday morning, remembered a teenage boy who was "just a sweetheart" with beautiful green eyes. "He could sing his little tail off," she said. "I can still hear him singing."

As the candles burned to stumps, Robin Sven Pillmann, a Central High School junior, began to place fresh candles in the ground. Pillmann didn't know Vinson but kept vigil at the corner in tribute to his classmate.

"Like me, he walked the same hallways and ate in the same cafeteria," he said. "I just want him to know that people care. It's important that people from this school, this neighborhood pay tribute to him."

mlsmith@startribune.com • 612-673-4788 cxiong@startribune.com • 612-673-4391