A second-grader struck by a car on an El Cajon street while his mother and sister looked on died at a hospital early Friday, about nine hours after the accident.
Angel Cruz, who turned 7 on New Year's Eve, ran into the roadway in the 900 block of Peach Avenue in the path of a westbound Hyundai sedan about 3:45 p.m. Thursday.
His mother was waiting in another vehicle for the boy on the other side of the street, police said in a statement.
Medics took Angel to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, where he died shortly after 12:30 a.m., according to the county Medical Examiner's Office.
The driver of the Hyundai, an 18-year-old man, immediately stopped and cooperated with investigators, police said. Intoxication was not believed to have been a factor in the crash.
In a brief news conference late this morning, Cajon Valley School District Superintendent David Miyashiro asked news crews to give the boy's family and classmates privacy during their time of grief.
"The environment that our kids are in right now needs to be as normal as possible," Miyashiro said.
