A family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is struggling to recover from a horrific accident this week in which a father ran over his 2-year-old son while attempting to park his truck.
The Tulsa Police Department said in a Facebook statement that the family had just returned home from the supermarket store on Tuesday evening and had parked their Dodge pickup truck in the front. While the mom and toddler managed to climb out of the car, the father opened the front door of the house.
That night, the mother informed her husband, they would not be leaving the house afterwards. As the father returned to pull the truck into their driveway, she started walking toward the residence with their son. He “felt a bump” at that point, according to police.
The parents were shocked to discover that their child had returned to the truck and that the father had run him over with the right back wheel. The 2-year-old was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, but died from his injuries following morning.
“This is a tragic situation for everyone involved,” said police, who added that no charges were currently being filed.
According to KidsAndCars.org, a national nonprofit dedicated to saving children from accidents in and around motor vehicles, thousands of children are killed or seriously injured in backover incidents each year.
A backover incident occurs when a vehicle is backing into or out of a driveway or parking space and the driver fails to notice a child.
According to the nonprofit, at least 50 children are backed over by trucks or cars each week in the United States. One-year-olds are most vulnerable. Over 70% of these heinous accidents involve a parent or close relative behind the wheel.
