Hearts Heavy for Boy Struck by Truck on Rosecrans Street

There are still heavy hearts today along the 1700 block of Rosecrans Street, where on Thursday, August 2, at around 7:30 p.m., a three-and-a-half-year-old New Mexico boy was struck by a red pickup truck in the crosswalk. He died of his injuries early Friday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

Arthur Roan, visiting from Vanderwagen, New Mexico, was in San Diego with his family to attend his older brother's graduation from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. The Roans reside on an Indian reservation. A witness to the accident said, “The child probably was used to running free on the reservation and didn't realize the danger of the cars here."

The boy wandered away from his family's hotel room at the Quality Inn, located at 2901 Nimitz Boulevard. He ran across Nimitz and into the crosswalk at Rosecrans Street, where he was struck by a Toyota Tacoma. The 54-year-old man driving the truck had the green light and was not cited, according to police reports.

Shocked onlookers rushed to the scene to help. According to a nearby Union 76 gas-station employee, the "streets were immediately blocked off and an ambulance arrived quickly." The child, bleeding profusely, was "rushed to UC San Diego Medical Center, where he underwent surgery. He was then transferred to Rady Children's Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries in the pediatric intensive care unit just before 2 a.m.," according to a Channel 8 news report.