Boy in Coma After Being Hit by Car

A 5-year-old boy was in a coma Tuesday night after being hit by a car while his family bought ice cream from an ice cream truck.

Richard Arroyo was struck when he ran across Syracuse Drive toward his house at 5:47 p.m. Monday while his mother, brother and a family friend purchased dessert.

“Normally when kids are asking for ice cream they are pointing at which one they want,” said Ivanna Silva, the friend at the scene. “But he just took off.”

Silva said the driver of the car, Randolph Mesa, 25, must not have seen the boy.

Oxnard police said Mesa was northbound on Syracuse when he hit the child. They said there was no sign of alcohol or drug use.

Richard rolled onto the hood of Mesa’s car and fell into the street, according to police. The child has head injuries but no broken bones, Silva said in an interview from the Arroyo family home.

The boy was taken to St. John’s Medical Center in Oxnard and transferred on Tuesday to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.