One girl died and another girl, along with a woman, were injured when an SUV reversed into them while they sat on steps in front of a Long Beach home on Monday morning, authorities said.
The deceased girl, described by police as a toddler, was rushed to a hospital by the first two arriving officers but died, police said.
Lt. John Hotchkiss of the Long Beach Police Department told OnScene TV, a freelance news organization that sometimes works with the Southern California News Group, that one officer drove while the other attempted life-saving measures on the girl.
Police received calls to respond to the 400 block of Maine Avenue just before 11:30 a.m., police said.
“The pedestrians were sitting on the stairs of a building when they were struck by a vehicle attempting to reverse,” police said.
It appeared the steps led into a gated, single-story apartment complex.
Alisa Hill, a nearby resident, told OnScene TV she heard a “blood-curdling” scream, ran downstairs and saw the woman pinned between the SUV and a wall, along with another child who had a gash on her shin.
“There was an infant or toddler involved too, but the first responding officer on the scene put the baby in the car and sped off real quick,” she said.
Long Beach Fire Department paramedics took the second girl and the woman to a hospital, Hotchkiss said.
Hill said the SUV driver stayed and talked with police.
She said the woman and children “chill on the porch a lot.”
Detectives were on scene Monday afternoon, looking for witnesses and possible surveillance video that may have caught the collision, Hotchkiss said.