Kenosha family speaks out after 3-year-old son dies in frontover crash

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) --Thousands of kids are injured or killed every year because a driver--often a parent or friend--moving their vehicle forward, slowly, didn’t see them. In the last month alone, two children have become the latest victims in these so-called "frontover" incidents.

A Kenosha County family opened up to CBS 58 about the tragic death of their 3-year-old son.

Esmi Rosales-Cruz said the incident took place on Saturday, Feb. 4. Her fiancé and the boy's father, Ian Shipley, pulled out of their small garage and didn’t notice his eldest son run outside. 

"You don't feel it, you're going so slow," explained Shipley. "I wasn't putting my foot in the pedal; I was crawling, you don't feel it. Next thing you know, you feel the bump."

Shipley re-lived the moments leading up to their son Zac James Shipley's death.

He said he hadn't come out to the garage area since the frontover crash--incidents where drivers accidentally run over kids at low speeds because they simply cannot see them.

"I went to go around to the gate and go look for him cause sometimes he runs out, 'daddy, daddy,' and he waits for me, and I turn around and he’s facedown,” Shipley recalled.

Rosales-Cruz said she was at work when she got the call that her son had been rushed to the hospital. She said doctors told her he wasn’t breathing and had no heartbeat by the time he'd arrived.

"There was a lot of emotions and questions rising in my head when I got to the hospital, questioning how could this happen? Feeling a lot of blame, you know, pointing the finger. 'What were you doing? How did you not see him?' Until I sat in my car, and I realized this could have happened to me," she said.

Frontover accidents happen all too often. On Sunday, police reported that another 3-year-old child died in Pleasant Prairie trying to reach for a ball near the driveway. Officials said the child's father accidentally hit the minor with a pickup truck.

Back in 2007, former Senator Dave Hansen admitted to accidentally killing his 1-year-old granddaughter in the same manner. As he was leaving to attend a meeting, his granddaughter ran out of the house and got behind his car. 

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, from 2016 to 2020 more than 71,000 people were hurt by forward-moving vehicles, and almost 2,000 died. In 2020 alone, more than 500 people were killed.

"Every day, when I do pull out, I, I focus on that gate, I try to listen as best as possible and I skim the front of my car," Shipley added. "I don’t know where he was, I just know he was excited to have fun.”

The boy's family said they are pushing officials to pass a new law, like Congress did beginning in 2018, when all vehicles were required to have backup cameras installed---this time, adding cameras to the front of the cars. As of Monday evening, more than 32,000 signatures have been collected as part of a Consumer Reports petition.

Until then, they will remember their adventurous boy with memories filled with joy.

"He was definitely just the life of our home, I mean he brought so much energy," said Rosales-Cruz.

Zac's father said he's always conscious to live every moment to the fullest.

"I always like to, you know, give her a kiss goodbye, even though I know she’s running late for work or something, just take that moment. You never know, enjoy that one second, cause you never know if they’re not going to walk back out of those doors again.”

A GoFundMe page has been created to help the family with funeral expenses. You can donate to it here.