Toddler Fatally Hit by Car While Mom Stares at Phone

A 2-year-old girl was killed last month in China while her mother stared at her smartphone, leading many Chinese social media users to call for a change, the New York Times reports. Surveillance video (Warning: graphic content) posted online on Oct. 20 shows the toddler walking near an SUV while her mother is on her phone a few steps behind her, reports McClatchy. The SUV starts moving, running over the little girl as she walks in front of it. The mother doesn't appear to look up from her phone until her daughter had already been hit. The girl, identified as Tutu, died before an ambulance could arrive. Police determined the driver wasn't at fault because Tutu was in his blind spot.

The video spread all over the Chinese web, leading to outrage, New China reports. "If the mobile phone was so much fun, then why had you given birth to the child?" one person writes online. "Everyone should be alerted not to play with a smartphone while walking. God knows how regretful the mother is," writes another. A local prosecutor's office calls it "heart-wrenching." "Put down your phone. Save the children!" it posts online. At least two other 2-year-olds were killed by cars while their mothers were looking at their phones in the past 15 months in China. "There's not enough discussion or awareness" of "potential dangers," a smartphone addiction expert tells the Times. (Two women go blind in one eye after using their smartphones.)