Update: Baby ejected onto asphalt during crash on Crows Landing Road in rural Stanislaus
A 9-month-old girl is “extremely lucky” to apparently have escaped major injury in a rollover crash in the area of Crows Landing and West Bradbury roads, about 13 miles west of Delhi, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.
The crash occurred about 5:45 a.m. Monday, and responders found the vehicle, a 2006 Subaru wagon, in a field on the west side of Crows Landing Road. Officer Thomas Olsen said the vehicle had rolled several times before coming to rest right side up.
Mia Fuentes, 9 months old, was thrown from the Subaru, as was her car seat, which was found separate from her, Olsen said. “At the very least, the child was not properly restrained,” he said. The child seat clearly was not fastened correctly in the car, Olsen said, and investigators are trying to determine if the baby was in the seat.
Mia landed in the middle of Crows Landing Road, so is fortunate not to have been struck by another vehicle, Olsen said. A driver who came upon the crash moved her to safety.
The baby was bleeding from the head and was taken by helicopter to the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Olsen said her injuries appear to be moderate, but since Mia cannot say what she’s feeling, medical tests will determine her condition.
The driver of the Subaru, Alma Rosa Barajas Nuno, 37, of Modesto, complained of neck and back pain and was flown to Memorial Medical Center in Modesto. Nuno was wearing her seat belt, Olsen said.
Nuno was driving north on Crows Landing Road, just south of Bradbury, when the Subaru drifted partially off the right edge of the road, Olsen said. She then overcorrected to the left, crossed both lanes and went off the left side of the road, where her wagon overturned numerous times, he said.
Olsen could not immediately confirm that Nuno is Mia’s mother. The baby, he said, was “extremely lucky. This is not the norm when babies get flung from vehicles. Looking at the damage to the vehicle, we believe that if the child was properly belted, she would have sustained injuries less serious than she did.”
A child must be properly restrained with the appropriate safety seat until at least 8 years old or 4-foot-9 in height, Olsen said. Also, a child must be rear-facing until at least 2 years of age.
“Please contact your local CHP office or Nurse Rena Bryant at Doctors Medical Center at Rena.lepard@tenethealth.com for information regarding child safety seats,” Olsen said in a text to The Bee. “We encourage all caregivers to follow Safe Kids Stanislaus on Facebook and Instagram for upcoming child safety seat checkup events.”
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 7:11 AM.
