Police records from the investigation into a 2-year-old girl’s death at an Edgewood AutoZone parking lot in August reveal new details about the incident, including that no charges have been filed despite safety violations and the father’s admission that he left the scene.
The child died after falling from a moving vehicle and being run over by the same car on Aug. 17 at the AutoZone store located at 1944 Old U.S. Highway 66, according to Edgewood Police Department incident reports.
The investigation began when Santa Fe County Fire Department contacted Edgewood police at approximately 6:29 p.m., reporting that a 2-year-old girl had fallen from a vehicle and was being transported to University of New Mexico Hospital, according to an initial report.
According to police reports and witness statements, the 33-year-old father had taken four children to purchase a part at AutoZone. After leaving the store, the children got into his white Jeep Cherokee in the parking lot — with three of the children, including the 2-year-old victim, unbuckled and two in the front passenger seat despite having no car seats available, the father later admitted to police.
As the father drove over an uneven area transitioning from asphalt to gravel, the passenger door opened and two children fell out — including the 2-year-old victim, identified in reports only by initials.
The child was immediately run over by the rear passenger tire, according to the reports. After the incident, the father drove away from the AutoZone parking lot and went to the home of a friend at the Route 66 RV Park, where he called for emergency medical services.
Police later tested the vehicle’s doors to determine if there were mechanical issues that might have contributed to the accident. Detective Ryan Romero noted that the passenger door was “difficult to close, as it required more force than generally used on most vehicles” and that the door “opened very easily using the door handle from inside the vehicle.”
The father initially told emergency responders that he was unaware the child had fallen out and only realized something was wrong when he saw her injuries, the reports state. However, in a later interview with detectives, he changed his account, saying he knew both children had fallen out.
“The father said one of his kids said [the victim] fell out of the vehicle also,” Detective Ryan Romero wrote in his supplemental report, referring to the victim by her initials. “The father said he had [the victim] in his arms and was trying to call his wife.”
According to the police reports, the father told investigators he was having marital and financial difficulties at the time. He had recently lost his job and was facing the prospect of losing his recreational vehicle, where the family was living.
The child died at UNM Hospital due to injuries consistent with being run over by a vehicle, according to the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. Dr. Daniel Nguyen, the pathologist who performed the autopsy, determined the cause of death was “laceration of the liver, and lots of internal bleeding,” the reports state.
A friend who was with the father at the RV park told police that the father called him, saying there had been an accident and asking him to call 911. The friend said when he arrived at the parking lot, the father was “freaking out” and had the injured child in his arms.
The investigation included analysis of surveillance video from both AutoZone and nearby Pecos Valley Production, which showed the sequence of events leading up to and following the incident.
Despite the circumstances surrounding the case, no charges were filed. Detective Ryan Romero reported that he contacted the on-call Assistant District Attorney, Paola DeVargas, to inform her of the interview findings and information learned from speaking with the father. “Ms. DeVargas stated that she did not see the need for charges at the moment,” Romero wrote in his supplemental report.
The child’s mother was not present during the incident, according to the reports.
