A 12-year-old boy, identified as David Kauan Silva da Costa, tragically lost his life after being run over by a tractor in the early hours of Sunday, June 22, 2025, at a landfill located in Vila Dagmar Mazza, south of Teresina, capital of the Brazilian state of Piauí.
David was a teenager who lived with his mother, stepfather, and two sisters. He attended the Lyzandro Tito de Oliveira Municipal School and dreamed of becoming a police officer.
According to his grandmother, Maria Albetiza Silva dos Santos, the boy wanted to buy a motorcycle and, to do so, decided to secretly go to the landfill, despite his mother’s refusal, who had forbidden him from participating in collection activities because it was an unsafe environment for a child.
The minor went to the landfill without his family’s knowledge and spent the night there, hidden and covered with cardboard. While he was sleeping, he was run over by a tractor operating there. According to the 22nd Military Police Battalion (22nd BPM), David was already dead when officers arrived at the site.