Boy Is Dead After Driver Swerves to Avoid Animal

A 5-year-old La Habra boy who had been hospitalized with his father after an early-morning car accident near Irvine died Monday night, officials said.

Luis Silva was thrown from the family’s Jeep Cherokee about 12:30 a.m. on Portola Parkway when his father swerved to avoid an animal on the road, police said. Both were taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where Luis remained on life support until shortly before 5 p.m., officials there said.

His father, whose name was not released by authorities, was listed in moderate condition late Monday.

The fatal accident was the second in less than a week in which a driver on an Orange County road swerved to avoid an animal. In the other incident, an Anaheim woman died when she reportedly tried to avoid a deer and overturned her vehicle on the Eastern toll road.

In the Portola Parkway crash, which happened in an unincorporated area, officials said the 33-year-old driver was traveling north at about 60 mph on the two-lane road when he swerved and struck an asphalt berm on the right side of the road. The Jeep then ricocheted and overturned in the left lane, said David Aguirre, a California Highway Patrol spokesman.

The child, who was in the right rear seat, was ejected. It was not clear if he was wearing a seat belt.