EVERETT — An Everett toddler died hours after being run over by an SUV in a private driveway, her family said this week.
Zoe Nadykto, 2½, was sitting on a skateboard in the late afternoon Friday outside in the 10700 block of 7th Avenue SE, while playing with other kids and adults, according to a cousin who posted a fundraiser on behalf of the family.
A neighbor pulled his Toyota Sequoia into the driveway and ran over the girl around 4:40 p.m., Everett police said. Police were investigating the exact cause of the crash.
The driver, in his mid 30s, told detectives he was turning a corner on the private driveway and did not see the child, police said. He was cooperating with investigators.
An ambulance rushed Zoe to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. She died around 8:20 p.m. Friday, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Tuesday.
“She was the most affectionate and loving little angel,” her mother Mary Nadykto said in a statement. “Gave hugs freely. Sloppy kisses. Loved her brother and he loved her fiercely and was very protective of her. They were inseparable. Always together. Always smiling. Since the day she was born. She loved to look for bugs all the time. Would dig in the dirt for them. A ray of sunshine. A goofball. Could cheer anyone up instantly.”
The fundraiser will help to cover “arrangements no parent should ever have to make. … We are calling onto our Slavic community and anyone who has it on their heart to help support this family as they walk through this unimaginably dark chapter in their lives.”
More than $16,000 had been donated to the family as of Tuesday afternoon.
Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.
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