The State - News from Aug. 8, 1988

A 2-year-old boy was killed in San Clemente when he was struck by a car that had been put in gear by a toddler inside the vehicle, authorities said. Dylan Bloodworth of Arlington, Tex., who was camping with his mother and grandmother at San Clemente State Park, died at the scene, the California Highway Patrol said. The freak accident occurred when Holle Alina Gross, 31, of Temecula, stopped her car in the campground to retrieve an item from her campsite, officers said. No parking spaces were available, so she left the engine running and put the car’s automatic transmission in park but did not set the emergency brake. In the 30 to 60 seconds that she was away from her car, her son, who will be 2 in a week, got out of his car seat in the back seat, climbed over the front seat and shifted the car into drive. The car accelerated and went 150 to 200 feet down a grade before it went into the campsite, officers said.