7-year-old Jeremy Perez dies in store accident
The neighborhood has erected a memorial for 7-year-old Jeremy Perez. Photo by James Whitely
A 7-year-old boy was killed Friday morning as he bicycled near the Albertson’s grocery store on Artesia Boulevard in North Redondo Beach. A truck making a delivery accidentally ran over the boy near the store’s loading bay.
According to police reports, at about 10:28 a.m. an Albertsons truck was backing into the bay when the driver sensed something wrong. Redondo Beach Police Department Sgt. Shawn Freeman said that the driver stopped his vehicle and jumped out to take a look when he discovered the boy and his bicycle pinned under the truck.
“He thought, ‘You know, something is not quite right,’” Freeman said. “He gets out to look and unfortunately discovers this 7-year-old boy under the truck.”
A 911 call was made immediately and paramedics quickly transported the boy to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. He was identified as Jeremy Perez, the son of a newly hired Albertsons employee. He was apparently in the care of a babysitter and was on his way to visit his mother when he took a shortcut frequently used by many residents of the neighborhood.
The loading bay is located on the north side of the store, near Mathews Avenue and bordering the surrounding residential neighborhood. No charges have been filed and police are investigating the matter as an accident.
“It’s a horrible, tragic accident for the family, for that truck driver, for the store, and for everyone around that neighborhood,” Freeman said. “Especially the family, obviously – this poor family is going to have to deal with the loss of a 7-year-old boy.”
According to store employees, the boy’s mother, Trina, was working when she heard the commotion outside. Paramedics had already taken Jeremy to the hospital when somebody told her that a little boy on a blue bike had been run over. She reportedly ran out to the parking lot to find a bent blue bike and her son’s little flip flops near a pool of blood.
Councilman Steve Diels expressed sorrow on behalf of surrounding community.
“It’s just an unbearable loss,” Diels said. “I know how bad I felt when I heard, and I can’t even imagine what the family and even the driver must be going through. My heart and prayers go out to everybody involved. I have a son, too, and it scares me every day to think of those kinds of things.”
“He was my nephew, a very outgoing, full of life little boy,” wrote David Lopez, the boy’s uncle, on a Facebook posting on the NBC Los Angeles website. “I will miss him so much…my family has suffered four deaths this year.”
Investigators are conducting an independent review to determine how the accident happened.
Meanwhile, the neighborhood is rallying in support of the family. A fund has been established to help pay for Jeremy Perez’s burial, and an informal memorial will be held at 3 p.m. near 28th Street and The Strand in Manhattan Beach this Saturday.
Neighbor Jamal Shofani, a vice president for Wells Fargo Bank who established the Jeremy Perez Memorial Fund, said that he was the kind of boy whose happy-go-lucky energy and friendliness made an impression on everyone he met.
“It hits close to home,” he said. “He was a real good kid…Every time I saw him with my kids, he was very outgoing and he always had a really good time. He was a special kid.”
Donations to the Jeremy Perez Memorial Fund can be made at any of the 11 Wells Fargo Bank branches in the South Bay in care of bank Jamal B. Shofani and to account number 5180865940. Donations made online should be made in Shofani’s name with the account number. ER