SANTA ANA : 4-Year-Old Runs Into Street, Is Hit by Car

A 4-year-old girl was in critical condition Sunday after darting into the path of a car and being struck, authorities said.

Diana Lomeli was in the intensive care unit at UCI Medical Center in Orange with severe head injuries and a broken hip, according to relatives.

Her parents and her aunt, who was walking with Diana at the time of the Saturday afternoon accident, were keeping a vigil for the little girl at the hospital.

Santa Ana Police Sgt. John Dittus said Diana was walking along the 1100 block of South Halladay Street about 3:20 p.m. with her aunt, Carmen Mendoza, 44, and three other children.

Suddenly, the little girl darted into the road in front of a 1980 Datsun 200 SX before Mendoza could grab her.

The driver, a 24-year-old Santa Ana man who was traveling 20 to 30 m.p.h., was unable to stop in time, witnesses told police investigators.

A helicopter ferried Diana to the medical center in Orange, where a nursing supervisor said she remained in critical condition Sunday.

Mendoza, who had been baby-sitting the youngster Saturday, was reported to be devastated by the accident and had spent the night at the hospital with Diana’s parents, coming home only briefly Sunday morning to change clothes.

“She’s really hurting,” Luis Mendoza said of his mother.

The driver of the car was not cited pending further investigation, Dittus said.