LEHI — A five-year-old Midway girl died Sunday morning after being ejected from a vehicle on Interstate 15.
Alondra Alvarado was riding with two other children and two adults in a Ford Explorer traveling south on I-15 when the driver, 35-year-old Jairo Figueroa, lost control of the vehicle near mile marker 284 just after 7 a.m, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
UHP Sgt. Jacob Cox said the tread on the vehicle's front right tire separated, causing the Explorer to drift off the right side of the road, where it struck a concrete barrier and overturned.
Alvarado was thrown from the vehicle, which then rolled on top of her, causing fatal injuries, Cox said. The vehicle contained two booster seats and an infant car seat, but investigators believe the seats were not secured properly.
"It is highly likely that proper use of a seat belt with the booster seat would have prevented Alondra Alvarado from being ejected and killed in this crash," a UHP press release describing the incident states. "UHP pleads with all parents to make sure that your children are properly restrained at all times whenever you are traveling on any roadway."
Cox said that the other occupants of the vehicle were not injured.
"They didn’t have any physical injuries, but obviously there’s going to be quite a bit of emotional pain and scarring based on the fact that they lost their daughter," he said.
Contributing: Dan Jessop
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