Boy who died in fall from truck identified

The Georgia State Patrol identified the 4-year-old Auburn boy who was killed Monday night in a truck accident as Xavier Franklin.

Franklin died when he fell off the back of his father's large work truck and the vehicle backed over him in a driveway on Mt. Moriah Road. The driver was 28-year-old Robert Franklin of Mount Moriah Apartments.

Auburn Police Sgt. Diana Campbell said the boy and his 7-year-old brother asked their father to let them to ride on the back of the truck, which has an extended bumper and hand rails.

"From my understanding the father had just gotten off of work, and when he got home, the kids wanted to ride on the truck," said Campbell, the public information officer for the city police department. "I was told the father drove the vehicle up the hill and then let it coast back down the hill."

The truck was in neutral, and the father was in control of the vehicle, Campbell said.

Auburn police officers arrived at the scene within a minute of the 6:52 p.m. dispatch by the Barrow County E-911 Center, and Barrow County Emergency Services requested a medical helicopter. However, the boy was dead when police arrived, and the helicopter was turned back, Campbell said.

The Georgia State Patrol assisted in the investigation at the scene and after consulting with the Barrow County District Attorney's Office decided not to file charges in connection with the accident.