Manatee boy, 7, dies after being crushed by pallets near storage facility, cops say

A 7-year-old boy was killed Thursday in Palmetto after a stack of pallets fell onto him from a truck.

According to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, a call came in from Manatee Memorial Hospital stating that the boy, Leonardo Chavez-Renteria, was brought to the hospital with trauma to his body. He was later pronounced dead.

“We are looking into everything but this appears to be a tragic accident,” sheriff’s office spokesman Dave Bristow said. “It’s really sad because in a few days he would have been going back to school.”

Leonardo was a registered student at Team Success Charter School in Bradenton, where he would have begun the second grade on Monday. He had attended the school for kindergarten and first grade.

Deputies learned where the incident occurred — a storage area in Palmetto at 1805 20th St. E. — and responded to the scene.

It was later determined that the child was playing in the area where a forklift was moving empty wooden pallets from a truck.

Then, approximately 15-20 pallets fell from the truck and landed on top of the boy. There were at least one or two other children that had been playing in the same area, according to Bristow.

The boy hadn’t been the subject of a child welfare investigation by the sheriff’s office, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families. The sheriff’s office handles all child welfare investigations in Manatee County on the agency’s behalf.

The sheriff’s office investigation will look into whether any negligence played a role in the child’s death.

Stay with Bradenton.com for updates.

This story was originally published August 9, 2018 at 3:33 PM.