Dad's Car Accidentally Backs Over 3-Year-Old in Driveway & Kills Her
A Texas family is grieving after a 3-year-old girl was run over and killed by a car that her father accidentally put into reverse.
Initial reports said that the child, identified as Dia Nebhnani, was struck after her 4-year-old sister accidentally hit the shift knob of the vehicle. But law enforcement soon realized that this was not the case.
It was discovered that Dia’s father was at the wheel of the car when it ran over the girl, according to police.
Both Dia and her sister were outside of the vehicle when the accident occurred, despite the father previously saying that Dia’s sister had climbed from the back seat into the front seat and knocked the gearshift into reverse.
Authorities don’t believe that the child’s father was intentionally trying to mislead police, but that the misunderstanding stemmed from his distraught state and a language barrier.
Fort Bend County deputies said the father had turned on the car and the air conditioning to cool down the vehicle while putting in child seats, and had somehow put the car into reverse.
The father tried to stop the vehicle but was unable to.
After Dia was hit, her father tried to administer CPR, as did paramedics who arrived shortly thereafter. But they were unsuccessful and the child died at the scene.
Dia’s 4-year-old sister was not injured but witnessed the fatal accident.
Deputies took blood from the father as a precaution, and said they will be examining surveillance video taken from the home. They do not believe any charges will be filed.
"It's a horrible incident for the family, the neighborhood out here, for the community," said a deputy with the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.
According to FOX 26, the father -- who they identify as Nick Nebhnani -- has temporary custody of the two girls and is in the middle of a divorce from Dia’s mother, Shannon Sadeghegi.
The distraught family is left to make sense of the heartbreaking accident.
“It could’ve been avoided," Sadeghegi tearfully told KHOU. “And now, I don’t have my little one.”