Toddler Crushed Under Wheels of Family Car

SYLMAR — A 1-year-old girl possibly trying to retrieve a toy from behind her family’s car was crushed to death when her older brother unwittingly backed the vehicle out of the driveway and struck her, police said Sunday.

The toddler, Stephanie Bejarano, died from head and chest injuries at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills shortly after the accident, which occurred Saturday at the family’s home in the 15700 block of Roxford Street, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. David Rosenberg.

“She was playing on the patio and she might have seen a toy that belonged to her behind the car,” Rosenberg said. “She darted behind it and her brother didn’t see her.”

The youth was driving the family’s 1973 Chevrolet Impala after coming home to get a flashlight for his father, Rosenberg said. The boy was supposed to take it to a Sylmar house where the father was working.

Police said the boy did not stop after hitting his sister because he was not aware that he had struck someone on the hilly, dirt driveway leading to the house. The toddler was discovered by a neighbor boy about 10 minutes later, police said.

The brother, a ninth-grader, does not have a driver’s license and was questioned by police but not cited, Rosenberg said. “You don’t need a license to drive on private property,” he said. But police said the investigation will continue.