A 2-year-old child has died in California after being hit by a truck that had a 3-year-old behind the wheel, police say.
The fatal incident happened Saturday afternoon in Woodland, outside of Sacramento, as the vehicle was “left running while parked at a gas pump,” according to the Woodland Police Department.
When the owner of the truck was inside the store, the 3-year-old who was “in the backseat of the truck” then “got out of their car seat and got into the driver’s seat,” investigators say.
“The truck began moving forward and it collided with a two-year-old child who was near a taco stand on the edge of the lot,” police said in statement. “Officers arrived and determined that a 2-year-old child had been hit and transported by family members to the hospital where they passed away from their injuries.”
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The Woodland Police Department says “everyone involved has cooperated in this investigation” and so far, an arrest has “not been made.”
“We are working to ensure a thorough investigation is completed,” it also said. “This includes taking statements, analyzing evidence, reviewing video surveillance footage, creating scene diagrams, and completing investigative reports. We ask for the community’s patience while this occurs.”
FOX40 identified the victim as a child named Ailahni, who was set to turn 3 at the end of April.
“I turned around when I heard the screaming. I came running,” Sandro Sanchez, whom the station reported as Ailahni’s father, said Sunday, adding that he had to go inside the truck and apply the brake.
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“She’s always been a happy baby,” Sanchez reportedly added, describing how Ailahni was enjoying tacos served by her godmother at the time she was struck. “We give her all the love we can. So, I know she left happy.”
Sanchez is now calling for charges to be filed against the truck’s owner.
“What the police did here, they just let him go. My daughter is gone. And he left the car on with a minor inside. A 3-year-old,” he told FOX40. “I had to come back running and stop the truck. The tires had already got my daughter.”
“He’s out there… We’re here, with our loss,” Diana Sanchez, the victim’s aunt, also said to the station.
