By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
No criminal charges will be filed in connection with an auto-pedestrian collision this summer that left an El Reno toddler dead.
A Yukon Police Department investigation into the Aug. 5th fatality has concluded, Yukon Police Chief John Corn confirmed.
Canadian County prosecutors determined there was no criminal wrongdoing in the tragic incident, which occurred shortly before lunch on a Saturday in the Yukon Chick-fil-A parking lot.
At 11:49 a.m. Aug. 5, Yukon police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel responded to an emergency call about a child being struck in the restaurant’s drive-thru at 1724 Garth Brooks Blvd.
Ismael Perez, 2, was rushed by ambulance to a local hospital where he died.
With the investigation finished, the YPD this week released the official collision report.
The toddler suffered a fatal chest injury after being hit by a 2014 Nissan Murano driven by a 61-year-old Yukon woman, the report shows.
The sport utility vehicle was in the northern most drive-thru lane at Chick-fil-A, facing westbound, with the driver stopped to place an order.
The toddler was with family, having just gotten out of a vehicle in the parking lot. The little boy began walking southbound from the parked vehicle toward the restaurant.
The driver of the Nissan Murano told Yukon Police that she saw a family crossing in front of her – a little girl, a stroller and two parents.
“She said the father was looking down at his phone,” investigating officer Chase Kovarik wrote in the YPD collision report. “She waited for them to pass and moved forward. She stated she did not see the other child.
“She said when she moved forward she thought she hit a speed bump. She said the family started yelling at her and she did not know what was going on.”
The toddler’s family members yelled at the woman to back up her vehicle, and that’s when she realized it was not a speed bump that she had hit.
The driver told police she was traveling two to three miles per hour, according to the police report.
$22,400 RAISED
Nearly $22,400 was raised in a GoFundMe online crowd-funding campaign that the victim’s aunt organized to help her “little sister out” with funeral costs.
“(A)nything would help my sister and my brother-in-law as they have to go through something no parents should ever go through,” El Reno’s Casandra Borjas posted on the GoFundMe page.
Yukon’s Chick-fil-A restaurant closed the rest of the day Aug. 5 after the fatality accident before reopening for businesses the following Monday morning.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic accident that occurred outside of our restaurant on Saturday,” Yukon Chick-fil-A owner/operator Chad Gerlt said in a prepared statement.
“Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time.”
Yukon Mayor Shelli Selby posted on Facebook, “My heart is breaking and sending prayers for the family whose child died today at Chick-fil-A. Also praying for the person who hit the child, the Police, Fire and EMT’s who worked the scene. Such a tragedy for everyone involved.”
