18-Month-Old Girl Hit by Tow Truck

An 18-month-old girl was critically injured when she was run over by a tow truck Monday afternoon, police said.

Stephanie Perez was listed in critical condition after she received severe cuts to her left leg and abrasions along the left side of her body when she was knocked down and run over at 1:58 p.m., Buena Park Police Sgt. Chris Nunez said. Alejandro Atayde, 27, of Sun Valley, who was on a service call from Hooked on Towing of North Hollywood to pick up a disabled car at the apartment complex, was pulling away from the carport when he noticed a woman walking near his truck was frantically signaling him to stop, Nunez said.

When Atayde stopped the truck, the child’s mother, Catalina Perez, who had been walking to the coin-operated laundry with her young daughter, picked up the child and ran back to her apartment where she called for help, Nunez said.