On a motorway in California, a seven-year-old girl fell out of the back of a driving SUV and was killed when many other cars were unable to stop in time to avoid hitting her.
Veronda Gladney, the girl’s mother, was driving when her daughter, who was not buckled in, somehow slid out the rear of an open window.
When they discovered the girl’s corpse just after 3 a.m. on July 4, at Weldon Canyon Road, along the northbound lanes of the 5 Freeway, police detained the mother and her boyfriend, Michael Branch, for endangering a child.
‘After initial investigations it was determined the seven-year-old female child fell out of the moving 1999 Lincoln navigator through an open window, and as a result, sustained fatal injuries,’ read a CHP report of the incident.
Although the accident is still being investigated, the police also cited witnesses who had been questioned as claiming that the window may have already been shattered from a prior incident, allowing the girl to climb out.
According to the California Highway Patrol, police responded to a complaint of an unusual item on the road and discovered the girl’s corpse.
According to Californian law, children under the age of 8 must be restrained in a car seat or booster seat in the rear seat of a vehicle.
According to state law, children must wear seat belts until they are eight years old or reach 4 feet 9 inches in height.
‘I’ve never had a kid falling out of a moving vehicle,’ CHP Officer Joshua Greengard told ABC7. ‘I’ve been to numerous tragedies in my time, but this one is very unfortunate. It’s very sad.’
The mother is distressed following the event, according to the police.
Although a pretrial hearing has been set on July 27 in Santa Clarita, it is not yet known if the mother will face charges from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Anybody is urged to call the CHP Newhall Area Office at 661-600-1600 if they have any information.