Heartache turned to tragedy when a three-year-old succumbed to her injuries after suffering a horrific crash.

A three-year-old girl is no longer with her family after a truck slammed into the Honda Civic she was riding in earlier today in El Paso, Texas. And according to KVIA news who reported on the tragedy shortly after, she could’ve still been at least alive at this moment if it wasn’t for her guardians failing to put a seatbelt or child seat to properly restrain her.

37-year-old Adrian Pacheco, of Juarez, Mexico was driving in his Nissan Frontier, a much larger vehicle than the Honda Civic three-year-old Jaynale Molina was riding in, when he attempted an illegal U-Turn without a protected green arrow. Unfortunately, the car that Molina was riding in was going straight, both didn’t react to each other in time.

Pachecho’s truck suffered minor damage to the front of his truck with the brunt of the forces being transferred to that small Honda Civic. And with Molina not properly restrained, she sustained multiple injuries which landed her in the hospital.

To be clear, the person responsible is definitely Pachecho in the Nissan Frontier. As a visitor to the state of Texas, he should’ve been well aware of our traffic laws and should’ve abided by them just like a Texan entering Mexico would presumably do. Pacheco will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

But, a small portion of the blame for this tragedy has to be doled out to Molina’s guardians. The loss of their child is an unfortunate consequence of not having the proper restraints in the form of a seatbelt, or at the very least, a child’s seat.

Her death is an untimely reminder that first, you and anyone riding in your car should always have a seatbelt on. If they’re small enough, they should have a booster or proper child seat.

In addition, although we’d like to think anyone entering our country will be fully versed on our traffic laws, that’s not the case. We must always be cautious drivers at all time. That means driving distraction-free and having 100 percent of our attention at the task at hand.

 

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