In California, a homeless mother was killed after she was run over by a lawnmower while sleeping in the grass at a park, police shared. The incident left “chunks” of her body in the grass, her family claims.
According to a report from the Modesto Bee, Christine Chavez, 27, was lying in the tall grass of Beard Brook Park in Modesto on July 8 when the incident happened. While in the grass, an employee riding a John Deere tractor with a pull-behind mower swept over the area where she was sleeping.
The worker, who has not been identified by the authorities, said he didn’t see the woman until he “noticed a body in the grass he had already made a pass through,” Modesto police said.
The employee quickly called 911, but when first responders arrived, Chavez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members who spoke with Fox 40 shared their criticism of the city, saying that her death was worsened by what they called a disrespectful and botched clean-up.
“They left big chunks of her all over the place, just covered up with the grass,” the victim’s sister Rosalinda told Fox 40.
She continued saying that they went to the spot in Beard Brook Park for “some kind of closure” in the days after her death, but when they got there, they found “chunks of her” in the grass.
“Even when they go and pick up a dog from the street, they take more time,” she said.
Chavez’s father, Christopher, said he went to the park and picked up pieces of his daughter’s bones, teeth, and skull in the days after her death.
The Bee reported that Chavez has a 9-year-old daughter and that she has been transient for the last three or four years, often sleeping in the park.
Other homeless people in the area also shared with the media outlet that they saw Chavez on the day of her death, cleaning her hair in the park’s creek before going to sleep on a hill in the grass.
Chavez’s family members are calling for justice for her death, saying that more needs to be done to protect homeless people in the area.
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