Babysitter accused of running over 2-year-old who fell out of her moving car

CLINTON, Conn. (WFSB/Gray News) - A babysitter from Connecticut is facing charges after police say a 2-year-old boy opened the door of her moving car and fell out. He was allegedly run over by the car and suffered serious injuries.

Connecticut State Police say 55-year-old Maria Santiago turned herself in Monday after a warrant was issued for her arrest. She is charged with four counts of risk of injury to a minor and failure to apply a child restraint system, WFSB reports.

Santiago is accused of running over a 2-year-old boy she was babysitting after he somehow opened the door to a moving car and fell out.

The incident happened May 14 while Santiago was babysitting several kids, according to the arrest warrant. She took two of the kids to a bus stop in Clinton to pick up a third kid, an 11-year-old girl.

One of the kids, a 2-year-old boy, was allegedly unrestrained in the back seat. According to the warrant, the boy stood up in the moving car, opened the door and fell out. Police say he was then run over by Santiago’s car and suffered serious injuries.

The 11-year-old girl told police that the boy was not in his car seat at the time of the incident. She also said that Santiago never had the boy wear a seatbelt, and he was “really loose in the back seat,” according to the warrant.

Witnesses told police one of the car’s rear tires was still on the boy’s legs when neighbors rushed to help.

Investigators say Santiago also left three kids, ages 9, 4 and 2, whom she was babysitting at home alone at the time of the incident. There was a pot of boiling chicken on the stove, according to the arrest warrant.

Santiago was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

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