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SALT LAKE CITY — Criminal charges have been filed against a 55-year-old driver accused of running over a toddler and then initially refusing to return to the accident scene.
Carlos Garcia, of Salt Lake City, was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with failing to stop at a serious injury accident and negligently operating a vehicle resulting in injury, third-degree felonies.
On May 3, Garcia was driving his pickup truck out of the entrance of an apartment complex at 532 North Dexter Street.
"As Garcia started to pull out of the driveway, (an 18-month-old boy), ran towards the driveway, fell down and the rear passenger tire of Garcia's vehicle rolled over the top of (the boy's) chest. Garcia then continued out of the driveway and left the area," according to charging documents.
Police responding to the scene obtained Garcia's phone number from others and called him.
"Garcia then refused to return to the scene multiple times" before finally agreeing to drive back, the charges state. When officers talked to him, he showed signs of impairment including the odor of alcohol on his breath, slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and difficulty maintaining his balance, according to prosecutors.
The boy "sustained bruising on his lungs, multiple cracks in his pelvis and dissected iliac artery, requiring (him) to be in a body cast for at least six weeks," court documents state.
