Early on Saturday morning in Santa Clarita, California, a 7-year-old girl was killed after she fell from a moving SUV traveling northbound on the 5 Freeway.
According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the girl’s mother, Veronda Gladney, and her boyfriend, Michael Branch, were detained for endangering the welfare of a child.
Around 3 a.m., the incident occurred as Gladney, 28, was driving the car near Weldon Canyon Road, and Branch was the passenger.
“[The girl] was in the very back portion of the 1999 Lincoln Navigator,” CHP Officer Joshua Greengard told ABC7. “Witnesses said that she was either hanging out or playing in the back portion, the very, very back portion of it. That window was already broken out, and it looks like she may have fallen out of the vehicle and then tragically died.”
“I’ve never had a kid falling out of a moving vehicle,” added Officer Greengard. “I’ve been to numerous tragedies in my time, but this one is very unfortunate. It’s very sad.”
“From other officers, I know she was distraught also,” he said.
