Young Girl Killed In Richmond Crash Identified; Charges Possible
RICHMOND (CBS SF) - A young girl killed in a rollover crash in Richmond on Monday morning has been identified by the Contra Costa County coroner's office as 5-year-old Xaniah Jackson, of San Pablo.
Xaniah was ejected from an SUV that flipped in a crash at the intersection of Richmond Parkway and Hilltop Drive around 8:10 a.m., according to police.
The girl was not strapped into a car seat or wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, Detective Nicole Abetkov said.
Emergency responders arrived to find her in the roadway, suffering from major head injuries. She was taken to a hospital where she died a short time later, Abetkov said.
It was a gut-wrenching scene, even for the seasoned police and fire personnel who responded, Abetkov said.
"To see a 5-year-old child lying in the roadway basically dying ... it's devastating," she said. "That 5-year-old should have been in a car seat."
A 7-year-old, a teenager and two adult passengers who were also in the car suffered only minor to moderate injuries in the crash, according to police. None were wearing seat belts, the detective said.
"We could have had multiple people ejected and multiple people severely injured," Abetkov said.
The driver, a 30-year-old San Pablo woman, was the only occupant of the SUV who was buckled up, she said.
Abetkov said the investigation into the crash is ongoing, and that speed may have played a role in the collision.
Investigators were expected to meet with the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office in the coming weeks to look into the possibility of filing charges against the driver, she said.
No arrests had been made in the case as of Tuesday morning.
The detective said the SUV's driver and passengers are all family members but declined to say how they are related.
(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
