A 2-year-old boy was killed Monday when he climbed out of his car seat and opened a door and fell out of a moving truck, police said.
Sebastian Salinas was pronounced dead at Banner-University Medical Center Tucson shortly after being transported to the hospital by Tucson Fire Department paramedics, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.
Shortly after 4 p.m., officers responded to the 2000 block of South Placita del Jubilo for a report of a serious injury crash involving a small child.
The neighborhood is near South Mission and West Silverlake roads.
Traffic detectives determined that the boy was not injured in a crash, rather he had fallen out of a moving truck, Dugan said.
The parents of the boy told detectives that they had buckled their son into a car seat in the back seat of their 2004 Ford F-150 four-door truck.
As the truck began traveling at a low rate of speed down the residential street, the child was able to get out of his car seat and open the driver's side passenger door, Dugan said.
When the door opened, the child fell out of the moving truck and struck his head, said Dugan.
An autopsy of the boy is scheduled at the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office later this week.
Dugan said neither speed nor impairment appear to be factors in this incident.
As of January, there have been 30 fatalities in the city, compared to 26 as of this date last year, according to police records.
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