‘Runaway’ car kills boy

Ryan Carter

NORTHWEST DISTRICT -- Twelve-year-old Kevin Cabrera was anxious on

Wednesday to play a basketball tournament game wearing the new pair of

Kobe Bryant Adidas basketball shoes his father, Robert, bought him for

Christmas.

His father implored Kevin to wait until after the game and after

Christmas, when a city park league will start up again.

On Thursday, the shoes were in a wrapped box under the Cabreras’ tree,

waiting for Christmas Day, when Kevin could wear them all he wanted.

But now, Kevin, a student at Luther Burbank Middle School who had a

passion for basketball and soccer, won’t get a shot to lace those shoes

up.

Kevin died of massive internal injuries Wednesday at Providence St.

Joseph Medical Center after being run over by a runaway car he and his

father were cleaning after its recent purchase. The accident happened

Wednesday evening in the driveway of their home on the 2100 block of

Maple Street, authorities said.

While Kevin was in the car’s passenger seat, his father apparently

reached through the open driver’s-side door to turn on the ignition to

move the car up the driveway, Burbank Sgt. Ronald Caruso said. “At some

point, the car started moving back, and the father [who was outside of

the car] was knocked to the ground,” Caruso said.

According to a department press release, “The child was inside of the

running auto and apparently placed the vehicle in reverse.” That

possibility was still being investigated, police said late Thursday.

But investigators believe that after Kevin moved over to the driver’s

seat, the car, a four-door Nissan Maxima, kept backing into the street,

toward the opposite curb, with its open door knocking the elder Cabrera

down, Det. Jeff Campbell said.

After Carbrera went down, Kevin, whose body was partially outside of

the car as he tried to jump from it, was pinned between the opposing curb

and the open driver’s-side door, Campbell said.

“The door apparently came back and crushed his ribs,” Campbell said,

adding that the left front tire also ran over Kevin’s legs.

Ironically, the car was a gift.

“The car had been purchased by the family that day and they were

excited about it and were washing the car and cleaning it up,” Caruso

said.

No arrests have been made.

“Right now, we are following up with extensive mechanical examination

of the car,” Caruso said. “We’re going through that car with a fine-tooth

comb to find out its history.”

The vehicle was thought by police to be salvaged.

Meanwhile, Cabrera’s father, Robert, and a shocked family grieved for

Kevin.

A stream of friends and family packed the Cabrera home to offer

support and remember the boy, who was described as a good student with

ambitions to someday play basketball at UCLA.

“The family is dealing with it the best they can,” said Kevin Bass,

Cabrera’s coach on the Burbank Lakers, a city league team. “As good as

anyone could. It’s very hard.”

Funeral services are pending.