Driver Attacked After Ice Cream Truck Kills Boy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An ice cream truck ran over and killed a 7-year-old boy riding a motorized bike in South Los Angeles and residents then attacked the driver, authorities said.

The truck struck the child shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday, and he later died at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said Officer Nuria Venegas, a Los Angeles police spokeswoman.

"I walked outside and he was on the ground, bleeding," Karen Black, who lives in the neighborhood, told KCAL-TV. "I just tried to comfort the family, you know, because they were hollering and screaming."

The child had been riding the bike with a small electric motor alongside the ice cream truck when, for an unknown reason, he apparently slipped, was caught under a rear wheel and run over, Sgt. Timothy Colson said. The collision was an accident, police said.

The crowd then attacked the driver, but he only received bruises, Venegas said. The driver told police that bricks were thrown at his truck and someone threatened him with a knife. He was taken to a police station for protection.

The driver will not be charged, officials said, but detectives were looking for those who attacked him.

The identities of the boy and driver haven't been released.

Neighbor Jackie Johnson described the young victim as "a lovely little boy."

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.