GREENWOOD — A toddler has died after being struck by a vehicle driven by his mother in a Greenwood driveway over the weekend, according to law enforcement authorities.
Deputies with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office responded at approximately 6:53 p.m. on Saturday to the intersection of Mahogany Drive and Yellowwood Drive following reports of a vehicle crash involving serious injury.
Upon arriving at the scene, responding officers were met by a woman who stated that her child had fallen out of her Dodge Durango and that she had subsequently struck him. An officer observed the father holding the toddler, who was suffering from significant head trauma alongside bleeding from his head and mouth.
According to the official crash report, the parents were in the neighborhood viewing local homes available for rent. As the family prepared to leave, the mother instructed the children to get inside the SUV. The mother informed deputies that after hearing the seat belts buckle, she began pulling out of the driveway. Moments later, the father yelled that a passenger door was open and that 2-year-old Kai’zan Booker had fallen out of the vehicle.
Multiple witnesses and family members present at the scene, including other children, told investigators they did not see the moment the toddler fell and could not explain how the vehicle door opened. The individual who originally assisted the boy into the SUV reported shutting the door, though they noted they had not buckled his seat belt.
Emergency medical services treated the child at the scene before transporting him to a local children’s hospital, with his father accompanying him in the ambulance.
The child, identified as 2-year-old Kai’zan Booker, was later pronounced dead at Riley Hospital for Children. The incident remains under review by law enforcement.
