The Long Beach Post reports that authorities have released the identity of the 1-year-old boy who was struck and killed when he was struck by a car in North Long Beach over the weekend
According to The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office, Mason Hernandez Ruiz was getting out of a car with his father at approximately 8:00 p.m. Investigators say that the father became momentarily distracted. It was then that the toddler ran to the front of the vehicle just as the car service driver was pulling away from the curb.
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Witnesses in the neighborhood told police that they heard screams from inside their homes at the time of the tragic accident. One eyewitness, 14-year-old Esequiel Cruz, told police that he saw 12 or more people crowded around the boy while they waited for emergency responders to arrive.
The boy was rushed to the hospital, where he later died as a result of the injuries he suffered in the accident. Mason would have turned 2-years-old in October.
One eyewitness who declined to give their name told reporters that children were playing in the street at the time of the fatal crash.
Long Beach authorities have declined to release the name of the boy’s father or the identity of the car service driver who struck the child. A spokesperson for the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement that the car service driver stayed at the scene and was fully cooperating with investigators.
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