May 14, 2008

Grandmother in critical condition

13-year-old hit her while backing up car

By Michael Manekin / Bay Area News Group

An 80-year-old woman whose 13-year-old grandson accidentally ran her over while backing her car out of the driveway Monday remained in critical condition Tuesday, authorities said.

"Right now, it's hour by hour," South San Francisco police Cpl. Bruce McPhillips said. "There's a broken femur, fractured pelvis and broken hip and also some internal injuries they're trying to deal with."

The victim, Raquel Rodriguez, lay in a medically induced coma Tuesday to cope with the pain of the injuries, police said.

Meanwhile, the woman's 13-year-old grandson was recovering at her home from injuries he sustained during the accident, McPhillips said.

The boy had come to Rodriguez's house shortly before noon Monday to give his grandmother a belated Mother's Day present, the officer said.

"His gift to his grandma was to come to her house and wash her car," McPhillips said. "But the car was too close to the house for him to wash it, so he asks his grandmother if he can just back it up a bit."

Rodriguez stood by the open driver's side door as she instructed her grandson how to move her car, a late-model Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, according to police.

"Then, (the grandson) stepped on the accelerator, and the door knocked her over," she fell down and the car rolled over her, McPhillips said. "He had never driven a car before, and he wasn't expecting that when he stepped on the accelerator the car would go fast."

The boy was injured shortly thereafter, falling out of the Oldsmobile and getting run over himself as the car sped backward into the street in a 180-degree arc, McPhillips said. The car ultimately circled back toward the house, striking a metal stairwell and pushing debris into the living room, he said.

The boy made a frantic call to 911 and then to his mother, McPhillips said. Within 10 minutes, his parents and other family members arrived at Rodriguez's home, McPhillips said.

"I've investigated accidents where parents have accidentally run over their own children, but never something like this," McPhillips said. "There was a lapse of judgment on everybody's part."

The boy is distraught with guilt, McPhillips added.

"(The boy's parents) are keeping his grandmother's condition from him because he doesn't need to know how serious her injuries are - her injuries are life-threatening," McPhillips said.

The incident may have been an accident with "100 percent no malicious intent," he said, but police still will refer the case to the county's juvenile services division because the boy drove the car into the street without a license, he said.

"There's no anticipation of any charges," the officer said. "(The boy) is not trying to hide anything. He knows it wasn't the brightest thing he's ever done."