Unrestrained 10-Month-Old Baby Falls Out From Car, Gets Accidentally Run Over

Woodbridge, Virginia -- A 10-month-old baby girl in northern Virginia fell out of a car and was run over by the same vehicle in Woodbridge.

The child was taken to the hospital but succumbed to her injuries.

The Prince William County Police Department said the accident took place on Flotilla Way in Woodbridge at around 1:15 p.m. local time Sunday, NBC Washington reported.

Investigators revealed that the 2013 Toyota Highlander involved in the crash was being driven by the deceased baby’s 35-year-old mother. The mother and daughter from Hyattsville, Maryland, were visiting family in Woodbridge when the tragic accident occurred.

The mother had placed her unrestrained baby in the backseat of the car and driven a short distance to a nearby dumpster. She then drove back to the family’s residence and stopped to pick up her relatives, according to People.

“When one of the family members opened the rear door to the vehicle, the unrestrained child fell from the vehicle and onto the roadway,” the Prince William County Police Department wrote on Facebook. “The driver immediately exited the vehicle to check on the child’s welfare.”

While exiting the car, the mother had left the vehicle’s transmission in drive, due to which the car rolled forward and “struck” the child, police said.

The crash left the baby with a serious head injury. The mother took her daughter to the hospital, where the police were informed about the incident.

Police did not reveal the identities of the mother or the child.

Cops launched an investigation into the death and no charges were filed.

A similar incident was reported in 2019 after a Florida man accidentally ran over his three-year-old son. Guillermo Junior Montoya Rios was driving away from the parking lot of Waffle House restaurant in Hillsborough County when the SUV hit the child, Jeremiah Rios. The mother and father, who were in the car, thought the other parent had seated the child inside the vehicle before they began to leave, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said. The child suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital.