Updated at 7:09 p.m. Feb. 23, 2016
Authorities released the name Tuesday of a 10-year-old girl who was struck and killed by a runaway car in front of her East County home after pushing another child out of its path.
Kiera Larsen of Lakeside was playing with friends in her front yard in the 13400 block of Highway 8 Business shortly after 5 p.m. Monday when a parked 1999 Mercedes-Benz began rolling in reverse down a sloping dirt driveway, likely because one of the youngsters had inadvertently shifted its transmission out of gear.
Kiera ran behind the vehicle and pushed a child out of the way before being run over, the California Highway Patrol reported. Medics took her to Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
It was the third traffic accident to claim the life of a child in the San Diego area in less than 24 hours.
An 11-year-old Anaheim girl was killed in a fiery chain-reaction crash on Interstate 8 in Pine Valley Sunday night. Authorities said Rochelle Hernandez was a backseat passenger in her aunt’s Lexus sedan when it was struck from behind by a speeding Toyota Camry at the Border Patrol checkpoint near Buckman Springs Road. The Lexus then struck the back of a Honda Pilot and burst into flames.
Rochelle could not be pulled out of the wreckage of the car in time and died at the scene, authorities said.
About 30 minutes later, an 11-year-old San Bernardino County boy was killed in a crash on Interstate 15 near Gopher Canyon Road. His name has yet to be made public, but authorities said he was a resident of Crestline.
Three other people involved in that crash were injured when the Chevrolet Trailblazer they were riding in was struck from behind by a Dodge Challenger, authorities said. The SUV rolled over several times, and the boy was ejected from the back seat, according to the CHP.
— City News Service
