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- A 55-year-old man, Carlos Garcia, was arrested for allegedly running over a toddler.
- The incident occurred in Salt Lake City; the child sustained serious injuries.
- Garcia's driving card expired in 2010; he showed signs of impairment, police say.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man driving on an expired driving privilege card was arrested after accidentally running over a young boy and driving off, according to police.
Carlos Garcia, 55, was arrested Saturday night for investigation of negligently operating a vehicle causing serious injury, DUI, failing to remain at the scene of an accident and for a license application violation.
On Saturday at 532 N. Dexter Street, Garcia ran over an 18-month-old boy while pulling out of a driveway and then kept going, according to a police booking affidavit.
"Emergency Medical Services transported the child to the hospital in critical condition. It was later found that the child suffered fractures to his pelvis and bruising on his lungs," the affidavit states.
After getting Garcia's phone number from others, officers called him and told him to return to the accident scene.
"(Garcia) was resistant to coming back to the scene but eventually arrived back after several minutes," the arresting officer noted in the affidavit.
Police looked at Garcia's driving privilege card, which allows people to drive but is not an accepted form of identification by government entities, and learned it had expired in 2010, the affidavit states.
Garcia allegedly told officers that he had seen two young girls and two young boys playing in the driveway as he pulled forward. He waited for the children to move out of the way before proceeding. But a young boy ran out in front of Garcia's truck as he was driving, police stated.
Garcia claimed he did not see any children in his mirrors after leaving the driveway, which he described as being smooth and not bumpy, the affidavit states.
"I do not find it probable that (Garcia) would not have realized he ran over a child in the driveway that he himself described as a smooth drive and never bumpy," according to the arresting officer.
When the officer pointed out his driving card had expired, Garcia replied, "Yeah, I know," the affidavit states.
Officers also noted Garcia had a hard time maintaining his balance. He was arrested after showing signs of impairment during DUI tests, according to the affidavit.
