Cynthia Marroquin would have been 16 months old on Saturday but
next week she will be sent home to Chiapas, Mexico, to be buried
where her grandparents and an older sister live, family members
said. The child was killed Tuesday afternoon when, for unknown
reasons, she got in the way of a slow-moving car outside her
home.
Cynthia Marroquin would have been 16 months old on Saturday but next week she will be sent home to Chiapas, Mexico, to be buried where her grandparents and an older sister live, family members said.
The child was killed Tuesday afternoon when, for unknown reasons, she got in the way of a slow-moving car outside her home.
The accident occurred at 2:07 p.m. in the driveway of the house where the little girl lived with her mother, Faviana, at 545-B Live Oak Ave. near Monterey Road, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Brad Voyles.
The residence is on a rural street in an unincorporated area north of the Morgan Hill city limits.
The driver, Pedro Muniz, 34, was the mother’s boyfriend and lived at the same address. Muniz was driving away from the house at a very slow speed when the child ran out to the car. Muniz did not see her. The auto was a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero pulling an empty car trailer.
Sheriff’s deputies, who were first on the scene, started CPR until paramedics arrived. There was one attempt to resuscitate the child with electrical stimulation to her heart, onlookers said. She was pronounced dead at 2:17 p.m. by AMR paramedics following the protocol that allows them to pronounce a death without a doctor’s presence.
The county coroner’s report released Thursday morning listed the cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries of the head and body.
The investigation will continue, according to CHP Sgt. David Hill. He said such an investigation is routine.
‘‘At this point there are no signs of negligence,” Hill said. “It’s a slow-speed tragedy.’’
When the victim in a traffic fatality is not the person responsible, the CHP must send a report to the District Attorney, Voyles said.
“The D.A. will determine whether or not it is reasonable to prosecute,” Voyles said. “Sometimes, when it is all within one family (as in this case) they will and sometimes they don’t. It depends upon the circumstances.”
Voyles said such a report normally takes about three weeks but, because of the Fourth of July weekend and holiday when the CHP is busy elsewhere, this investigation may take longer.
CHP Officer Kirby Sakamoto spent much of Tuesday afternoon gathering basic information from neighbors who live in the complex of three small houses connected by several driveways.
‘‘It kills me inside,’’ Hill said. ‘‘Working (fatal accidents involving children) does not get any easier.’’
Late Tuesday afternoon friends and family had gathered around the small house to console the mother as did Fr. Oscar Morales, her priest from St. Catherine’s Catholic Church. Fr. Morales visited those at the home a second time later Tuesday night.
The mother was extremely distraught, repeating over and over in Spanish, ‘‘my daughter, my daughter.’’
Also late Tuesday afternoon, several small children played on the neat lawn outside the Marroquin home while their parents waited to offer condolences.
Father Gene O’Donnell, also of St. Catherine, said Wednesday morning that he hadn’t yet heard of the event but said he would have expected Fr. Oscar to go to the family.
“There are no words we could say (to console the family) so soon after the event,” O’Donnell said. “The most anybody can do is just be there, making sure they are safe and don’t do anything dangerous to themselves.”
O’Donnell said the church normally helps families cope with the unexpected expenses funeral expenses if they need the help and that the community often wants to help out too.
Chiapas, where the family is from, is the southernmost state in Mexico, on the border with Guatemala and one of three states that make up the Yucatan Peninsula.
René Perez, a family friend, said Cynthia’s mother could indeed use some help with funeral expenses.
“They are very expensive,” Perez said.
Fr. O’Donnell said the church regularly helps families with the unexpected expense of burial and normally accepts any donations the community would like to add for the purpose.
“She was such a beautiful little girl, so happy,” Perez said. “She really loved to dance.”
And, indeed, a photo of Cynthia taken a few months ago showed a cute and cheerful baby smiling at the camera.
Perez also said one family member, Dalia Lopez, had undertaken to make all the funeral arrangements.
“Dalia has been very, very helpful to Faviana,” Perez said.
The mother was calm on Wednesday but still understandably distraught. Cynthia was her youngest child. Faviana stayed at home with Cynthia and did not work, Perez said.
St. Catherine Catholic Church is accepting donations to the Cynthia Marroquin burial fund at 17500 Peak Ave., Morgan Hill, CA 95037. The church office number is 779-3959. Be sure to include the child’s name with any donation.
In 2003 a trailer and a shed on the same property was completely destroyed by fire. That fire was determined to be accidental.
Photographer James M. Mohs contributed to this report.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
