4 Year Old In Critical Condition After Ejection From Vehicle

A North Carolina car accident has left a child in critical condition after being ejected from a vehicle. Four year old Gilbert Garcia Torres was thrown from a vehicle Sunday morning when a Toyota Camry hit a Ford Explorer so hard that it came to a rest on its side, with the ejected child trapped beneath it. Bystanders were able to lift the SUV off the child.

Police are still investigating and trying to determine how the child was ejected. North Carolina law requires the driver and all passengers of a motor vehicle to wear seatbelts, and all children under the age of 8 to be secured in a child passenger restraint system.

Hendersonville Police Captain Doug Jones reports that Torres’ condition is improving.

A 12 year old Georgia boy was not as lucky, and did not survive after being ejected from the family SUV in a wreck on I85 near Commerce, GA on Friday. Georgia law only requires that front seat passengers wear seatbelts. Devin Pierce, a rear seat passenger, was ejected when the Ford Excursion he was a passenger in suffered the blowout of a rear tire and struck a guard rail.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the leading cause of death for children between 3 to 14 years of age is motor vehicle accidents.

The injury attorneys at Auger & Auger urge you to keep yourself and your family safe. Buckle up! Keep seatbelts where they belong-secured across the rib cage and around the pelvis, and make sure children are properly buckled in age appropriate child restraint systems.