Toddler Killed In Crash Was Not Properly Restrained: CMPD

CHARLOTTE, NC -- A driver faces charges after a 14-month-old girl was killed Wednesday after the car she was traveling in swerved and hit a car head-on in oncoming traffic. According to Charlotte police, while the toddler was in an infant carrier, it was not used as designed, which is believed to have contributed to her death.

The Nov. 29 crash occurred in the 1500 block of North Graham Street, when Dora Del Carmen Sosa, 33, changed lanes to pass a large truck. When she changed lanes, however, a pickup truck was in the lane waiting to make a left turn. She swerved to miss the stopped pickup and drove into oncoming traffic, hitting head-on a Toyota Camry driven by 43-year-old David John Collins, Jr.

Both Collins, who was wearing a seat belt, and Sosa, who was not, were seriously injured in the crash. The toddler in Sosa’s vehicle sustained life threatening injuries. Paramedics transported all three to Carolinas Medical Center, where the little girl was pronounced dead.

According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police investigators, the child was in an infant carrier, but it was not being used properly. “Detectives believe the misuse of the child passenger seat was a contributing factor in the death,” CMPD said. Charges are now pending, police say.

CMPD asks that anyone with information about this case call CMPD Major Crash Investigation Unit at 704-432-2169.

Photo via Shutterstock