California homeless woman killed by lawnmower

MODESTO, Calif. (CNN, KYMA/KECY) - A woman is dead after a lawnmower apparently ran over her in a park 90 miles east of San Francisco. The company that owns the park is calling this an accident.

A spokesperson for the company Grover Landscape Services says a landscaping contractor couldn't see her since she was lying in a "tall, weeded area."

Family members of 27-year-old Christine Chavez said they believe her death was preventable and never should have happened.

"She was super...really nice, you know? Now, she's dead," said Christopher Chavez, Christine's father.

Demanding a thorough investigation

The Modesto Police Department (MPD) says Saturday, at around noon, a Grover employee was cutting the grass at Beard Brook Park on a tractor with a pull-behind mower.

Police say he noticed a body in the grass that he had already passed through and called 9-1-1.

The victim, identified as Christine Chavez, was later pronounced dead.

"We wanna try, you know, everything to, to get justice," Chavez declared.

While the Stanislaus County coroner is still investigating an official cause of death, the family is demanding a thorough investigation by the MPD.

"I know that, if you are driving a tractor, you can see even if...the small ropes. You see, I mean...one person. You will see one person in front of you. It's a lie that they didn't see her," Chavez spoke.

Advocate

At the Modesto City Council meeting, an advocate for people living unhoused, Dez Martinez, pleaded with the council to look into the incident further.

"It has to take an advocate to go out there and scream to the world and raise enough awareness and get as much media as you can involved, so there is a professional investigation, and it is done right," Martinez remarked.

Martinez said she got a frantic phone call from Christine's father on Monday and came right to Modesto to try and help.

"She was a beautiful girl, beautiful young girl. She had a family that loved her, and, and, and for the trauma that they're going to have to endure for the rest of their lives, this is, this is visions they will never get out of their head," Martinez described.

"I keep going because I need to. I, I, I'm looking for justice, and I'm going to, I'm going to be there until, until something happens." Chavez added.

Chavez says, before Christine's death, his daughter would often come home to see the family.