By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 4, 2008

A Northwest Washington man accidentally ran over and killed his 16-month-old son yesterday while pulling out of a space inside their apartment building's garage, police said.

The boy, his mother and a family friend were preparing to get into other cars in the garage when the accident occurred at 11 a.m., police said. The mother and friend were loading items into the trunk of the mother's car as the boy began to wander, police said.

The father, 46, did not see his child by his front bumper, said Cmdr. Andy Solberg, who called the accident "particularly heart-wrenching." Solberg said the toddler was out of the father's line of sight.

"They get away from you quick," Solberg said of young children.

Police did not identify the child or his parents. The boy was pronounced dead at Children's National Medical Center shortly after he was hit.

The garage was roped off with yellow tape during a police investigation. The apartment building where the family lives, the nine-story brick State House, is in the 2100 block of Massachusetts Avenue NW, about a block from Dupont Circle.

Yudi Hendersin, 28, a friend who lives in the building, said he got to know the family because he and his wife have a 5-month-old daughter and the two couples would talk about their children and sometimes swap baby gear. He said the mother and father are "a nice, nice couple" and "definitely good parents." The boy was their only child, Hendersin said.

"My wife called me crying this morning," Hendersin said. "They were a really happy family. This is a pure tragic accident."