Family members of an 8-year-old trapped under a car and killed while riding an electric scooter over the weekend spoke out publicly on Tuesday for the first time.
At the scene of the accident on Tango Loop in Chula Vista, some 70 neighbors gathered on Tuesday to pray for the family of Mattviel Rodriguez.
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“I just want to say thank you to our community,“ the boy’s uncle Ivan Rodriguez said. “You guys heard me out here. It was not a pretty sight.”
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Mattviel didn’t live on Tangle Loop but his aunt Hanna Rodriguez and Ivan do. The Mattviel and his brother, who was riding a bike nearby at the time of the accident, were visiting their relatives on Sunday.
“He was a bright kid,” Ivan said. “Everybody that knew him knows he was a good boy. He was always happy.”
Chula Vista police say Mattviel was riding the electric scooter around 2:15 Sunday afternoon when he was hit by a 2013 convertible Audi hit him. Rodriguez was trapped underneath the car, and rescuers used a hydraulic jack to lift one side to free the boy.
“Right when I got there was people lifting up the car,” witness Efren Leon said.
Leon heard the crash and came running. He said the boy was unresponsive despite all the efforts to save him.
“At that young of an age, I feel like it is horrible,” Leon said.
It is a sentiment shared by the 70 people who showed up at the accident scene on Tuesday evening to grieve. Among them were several of the people who had come to Mattviel’s aid.
“You guys answered to my call, you guys helped me out as much as you could with my nephew,” Ivan said.
Chula Vista mayor John McCann shared a prayer with the group. Like most who were there on Tuesday, he was compelled to attend by the pain of losing a child at play.
“This was a huge tragedy, and I feel so sorry for the family,” said McCann said, who declined to share any details about the police investigation.
“They are going to do a full investigation and see what happened,” McCann said. “They want to make sure they are fair,” McCann said.
The 55-year-old man behind the wheel of the car that hit Mattviel did not attend the event on Tuesday, even though he owns a home in the development a couple blocks from the accident.
For now, the focus seems to be on healing.
Family members and the community plan to gather Thursday night for a vigil. On Friday, at what would have been Rodriguez’s first Little League baseball game, organizers will hold a ceremonial event.
