Alejandra Segundo Cruz, a 32-year-old mother from the West Lealman area of Pinellas County, Florida, was arrested Thursday in connection with the tragic death of her 2-year-old son, Damian.
The arrest comes several months after an October 2025 incident where the toddler was struck and killed by a Ford F-450 pickup truck directly outside the family home.
The fatal encounter happened just before 4 p.m. on October 29, 2025, in the 8000 block of 49th Avenue North. According to court documents, Segundo Cruz had left Damian and his siblings playing in the front yard without adult supervision.
The yard sits only feet away from the roadway. Investigators say that while the children were unattended, Damian “darted into the roadway” and moved directly into the path of the heavy-duty truck.
The driver, a 34-year-old man, had been stopped in front of the residence and began to pull away just as the boy moved in front of the vehicle.
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The driver remained at the scene and cooperated fully with the Florida Highway Patrol. He told authorities that due to the boy’s small size, he never saw him enter his path. Emergency responders pronounced the child dead at the scene.
Following a months-long investigation involving witness interviews and evidence review, detectives determined that the mother’s decision to leave the children alone near the road was the primary factor in the tragedy. In an affidavit, investigators noted that she “should have known that leaving young children unsupervised to play outside… could have caused them to get seriously hurt or killed.”
Witnesses at the scene recalled hearing frantic shouting immediately after the impact as family members rushed into the street. Police have confirmed there was no evidence that the driver was impaired, and he currently faces no criminal charges.
Segundo Cruz now faces one count of aggravated manslaughter of a child and one count of child neglect resulting in great bodily harm. She is being held at the Pinellas County Jail without bond following her first court appearance on Friday.
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