A 35-year-old La Habra mother has been arrested on suspicion of child abuse after her 19-month-old baby fell out of her moving SUV while making a left turn through a Fullerton intersection with another vehicle close on its heels, according to police and a video that ended up online.
The child suffered scrapes and bruises and was expected to make a full recovery, said Kristy Wells, a spokesperson for Fullerton police.
As seen in a video taken on Tuesday morning, Jan. 20, a black Mercedes-Benz makes the turn at Malvern Avenue and Euclid Street when the front passenger door opens and the toddler falls into the middle of the street and skids along for a bit.
The SUV and a sedan behind abruptly stop.
A woman then gets out of the SUV, runs around the back, picks up the child and they apparently return to the Mercedes.
The department saw the video online, Wells said, and had “begun to look into the incident but the video didn’t provide any identifying info to follow up on.”
Four days after the child fell into the street, a witness came forward with information about the SUV that helped officers find the vehicle, the woman and the child in the video, Wells said, without elaborating.
The baby had not received any medical attention until after their mother was arrested, Wells said, but was then taken it a hospital.