LAUREN ALICIA MENDOZA / SFVS

Accident site - The parking lot of the San Fernando apartment complex where an 18-month-old boy was struck by a car while playing.

An 18-month-old toddler was reported in stable condition after being struck by a car in a San Fernando residential area.

Officer Frazier Godinez of the San Fernando Police Department said police responded to a call at 7:40 p.m. on July 22, arriving at an apartment complex at 1530 Second St.

Marco Cardinas, a resident here, said the unidentified toddler was playing in the apartment's parking lot before being struck by a car.

"The father was there but he wasn't watching the child," Cardinas said. "It was a small child and the lady (driver) didn't see him. And as soon as she felt the impact she stopped."

Juan Rodriguez, who lives down the street, said he was watering his lawn when the incident occurred.

"These two cop cars took off real quick," Rodriguez said. "And then we noticed there was a helicopter somewhere around the area over there and there was a lot of commotion over there on that side so I thought it was two different incidents."

The police report said the child had "slight bleeding from the rectum and tire marks by the arm," and was crying hysterically. The toddler was transported from the accident site to the San Fernando Recreation Park at 208 Park Avenue, and airlifted by helicopter to Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

"That's the reason why they had to call in the helicopter, it's much quicker than having the ambulance transport by street," Godinez said.

The San Fernando Recreation Park was the only area open enough for a helicopter to land and take the injured toddler to the hospital, Godinez said.

Ron Ruiz, public works director at San Fernando Recreation Park, said the field has been used before during emergencies such as this when a helicopter was needed to transport persons with time-sensitive injuries.

"That would be the best place to land [a helicopter] in an emergency, one of the best places in the city," Ruiz said. "And obviously for this incident they needed to rush the child to the hospital as soon as possible. It was the fastest method."

Carolina Guzman, who lives across the street from the park, recalled police asking those in the park to evacuate the field area for the helicopter to land. "While kids were playing, they asked people to move because a helicopter was coming over on the field," Guzman said.

Guzman, who comes here on a daily basis, said the summer season attracts "more people, more traffic" to the park, especially since the opening of the new Aquatic Center.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the highest percentage of fatalities (43 percent) involving pedestrians ages14-and-younger occurs at dusk, between 4 p.m. and 7:59 p.m. The NHTSA also reported the average pedestrian is killed in a traffic accident every 120 minutes, and injured every eight minutes.

Cardinas said this wasn't the first time a child was hit playing in this parking lot.

"There's a lot of kids that play every day, sometimes they play soccer. And even though everybody drives really slow...it's a problem," he said.

Cardinas also said he thinks parents should be more cautious about watching their kids play.

"Really the lady wasn't to blame. The blame should be on the parents who don't look after their kids," he said.