The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office filed involuntary manslaughter charges Wednesday against a man who allegedly left his truck running at a Woodland gas station, where it fatally struck a toddler after the man’s 3-year-old child climbed into the driver’s seat.
The charges arise from a March incident at a 76 gas station in which 2-year-old Ailahni Sanchez Martinez was struck while near a taco stand. Ailahni, who according to family was eating tacos when she was struck, was taken to a hospital where she died.
Prosecutors filed charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment, with enhancements alleging the crime involved a “high degree of cruelty, viciousness, or callousness” and the victim was vulnerable, according to the complaint.
The defendant, a 34-year-old Woodland man, is scheduled to be arraigned May 10 in Yolo Superior Court, said Wendy Wilcox, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office. He is not currently in custody, the District Attorney’s Office said in a Wednesday news release.
Police were called March 16 to the 76 gas station at the corner of West and Court streets. The defendant’s daughter, age 3, climbed into the driver’s seat of a black Dodge truck parked at the gas station while her father went inside the store, the Woodland Police Department said.
“The truck began moving forward and it collided with a two-year-old child who was near a taco stand on the edge of the lot,” police said.