Tell HN: A $40B company killed my 2yo son. Now they force me to keep silent
495 by bereavedparent | 97 comments on Hacker News.
My 2yo son was struck and killed by a garbage truck next to a children's playground in the SF bay area less than 2 years ago. The driver who has fled violated multiple traffic rules which directly caused my son's horrible death. We have evidence that the company's unimaginable level of negligence allowed this to happen and now they want us to sign an agreement forbidding us to disclose the details. I'm writing this in great pain as I was not able to talk about it for a long time. My entire family were devastated. My mom passed away unable to accept the loss. My wife suffers PTSD. I stopped working so that I can go to the cemetery to stay with my son everyday. It's been almost two years. They see our weakness not strong enough to go through litigation as it tortures us. They offered to settle through mediation with a laughable amount of money which I can earn in less than 4 years. And they want me to shut up so that they may do whatever they want to continue killing children in our neighborhood. My family want to settle and avoid the additional suffering. I feel so weak. I want to protect them as much as possible but know in my heart I need to fight. I would never forgive me if one day another child gets killed and I could have avoided the tragedy if I choose to fight. I need help. What would you do if you were me?