2-year-old girl dies after truck left running hits her at Woodland gas station, family says
A 2-year-old girl died Saturday after being hit by a truck that had been left running in a Woodland gas station parking lot, her family said.
The child, identified by her family as Ailahni Sanchez Martinez, was at her parents’ taco stand in the parking lot of the 76 gas station at the corner of West and Court streets when she was hit, said Mireya Sanabria, the girl’s aunt.
The girl’s parents, Rosa Martinez and Sandro Sanchez, told KCRA 3 they had been setting up their taco stand when they saw the truck moving backward toward their daughter. Sanchez said a man had left the truck running with a child inside.
Sanabria, who has created a GoFundMe fundraiser to help cover her niece’s funeral costs, said the girl was eating tacos at a table when the truck hit her.
“The vehicle was parked about to pump gas when the adult went inside to pay, and there was an underage baby in there. And out of nowhere the vehicle started going by itself,” Sanabria wrote on the GoFundMe page.
The incident was reported about 3:45 p.m. Saturday. Officers went to the gas station after a report of a child having been hit by a vehicle, according to the Woodland Police Department.
Officers arrived and learned that family members had taken the injured girl to a hospital, where she died. Officers found a black Dodge truck at the scene with a 3-year-old child inside and a man associated with that truck, which was determined to have hit the 2-year-old.
Investigators determined that neither alcohol nor drugs was a factor in the incident, and it was not a hit-and-run, police said.
Police said all involved in the incident “were cooperative and provided statements to the police.”
“Woodland police have patrol, traffic and crime scene investigators, along with the Yolo County Coroner, working diligently to determine how the collision occurred,” police said in a Facebook post. “Our hearts go out to the family who suffered the tragic loss of a child.”
Investigators ask anyone with information about the incident to call 530-661-7800.
