Girl, 2, Accidentally Killed When Uncle Backs Car Over Her

A 2-year-old Santa Ana girl was accidentally killed Easter Sunday when a car driven by a relative backed over her in the driveway of her home, Santa Ana police said.

Viviana Rodriguez, was playing behind or beneath a car being washed by her uncle, Martin Verduzco, 22, Police Lt. Mike Mitchell said. The accident occurred about 10 a.m.

When Verduzco finished, he got into the car and had backed it about two-thirds the length of the driveway before another relative could warn him that the toddler was in the way, Mitchell said.

Did Not See Child

“The family member yelled for Verduzco to stop. He stopped, got out and noticed her under the car,” Mitchell said.

Verduzco told paramedics he did not see the child and was not aware of the danger until a relative screamed for him to stop, Santa Ana Fire Department Capt. Earl Sisk said.

“For reasons we don’t understand, the child was somewhere under the vehicle or behind it, we’re not sure,” Sisk said.

Paramedics, who were summoned by the family, treated the little girl at the scene. She was then taken by ambulance to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

Verduzco was questioned by police but was not held, Mitchell said.

Later in the day, Verduzco was in a state of shock and feeling “extremely bad” about the morning’s tragedy, a family spokeswoman said Sunday.

Relatives and friends went to the Rodriguez child’s home in the 1400 block of South Spruce Street to offer condolences. Some carried large pots of food for the child’s grief-stricken family.

The girl’s mother declined to speak to a reporter about the incident, said the spokeswoman, an older female relative who declined to give her name.

“She can’t talk to you now. She’s just too sick about this,” said the woman, who broke into sobs herself, then disappeared inside the family’s modest stucco home in central Santa Ana.