OXNARD : Boy, 2, Safe After Car Hits Him; Driver to Face Arraignment

An Oxnard toddler was safe and happy on Monday and an Oxnard woman awaiting arraignment on suspicion of felony hit-and-run after a weekend accident in which the boy was struck by a car, hurled through the air and thrown back into the path of the still-moving vehicle.

The 2-year-old boy, Edgar Emmanuel Castellanos, suffered only minor injuries after his aunt yelled at the driver to stop and dragged the boy from the street, police said.

The driver, Rosa Maria Vega, 28, was released on $5,000 bail Monday, authorities said.

Vega was driving west down the 100 block of Iris Street near San Marino Street in Oxnard early Sunday evening when the boy ran in front of her car, a spokesman for the Oxnard Police Department said.

Vega continued driving after she hit the boy, who flew several feet into the air and fell in front of the car, authorities said.

Edgar’s aunt, Lucila Barragan, said she yelled at Vega to stop as she ran into the street to grab the boy before the car struck him again.

“I couldn’t believe it, she just kept going,” Barragan said.

Neighbors immediately called police and described Vega and her car.

Police quickly found and arrested Vega as she headed north on Oxnard Boulevard.

Edgar was treated at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard for a small bump on the back of his head and released.

“We are very fortunate,” said Edgar’s father, Roberto Castellanos. “It could have been a lot worse.”

The accident occurred as Barragan and her two children, and Edgar’s mother and her three children, left their Iris Street home to go to the market, Barragan said.

Edgar ran ahead of the group into the street, Barragan said. Edgar’s mother, Rocio Castellanos, is deaf and did not hear the car coming, Barragan said.

“I could almost see what was going to happen,” Barragan said. “So I was already running out in the street when the car hit him.”

Vega was to be arraigned in Ventura County Municipal Court on Friday morning, authorities said.