California: Sleeping woman run over and killed by lawnmower

The family of US woman killed by a lawnmower while sleeping in park has accused authorities of an uncaring response to her tragic death.

27-year-old Christine Chavez was sleeping in long grass at Beard Brook Park in Modesto, California, when a tractor pulling a mower travelled through the area on July 8.

Police said the driver did not see her and only “noticed a body in the grass he had already made a pass through.

“It was so painful imagining my sister got woken up so horribly, its just the worse way to die,” her sister Esmeralda wrote in a GoFundMe appeal.

Chavez’s grieving family have spoken out in the wake of her death, accusing authorities of not taking due care in cleaning up the scene, leaving them to make a series of grim discoveries.

Christine Chavez. Photo / Go Fund Me

The family say they went to the park on hearing about the death and were shocked to find their loved one’s remains strewn about.

“They left big chunks of her all over the place, just covered up with the grass,” another sister, Rosalinda, told Fox 40.

Christine’s father, Christopher Chavez, told Fox that he recovered bones, hair and teeth from the site.

“Even when they go and pick up a dog from the street they take more time,” Rosalinda said of the clean-up efforts.

Chavez, who was the mother of a nine-year-old daughter, had been living homeless for a number of years and witnesses saw her wash her hair in the park’s creek before settling down to sleep in the grass.

Family joined local activists in calling for more protection and facilities for the local homeless population.

“My mom had to pick up pieces of her. That’s not correct,” brother Randy Chavez told the Modesto Bee.

“We want ordinances to change so it doesn’t happen again. Regardless if they are homeless they are still people and should be treated the same as any other people.”

A grave for Christine Chavez at the site. Photo / ABC 10

Dez Martinez of local homeless advocacy group We Are Not Invisible told the Bee: “What I would advocate for right now in Modesto is a safe camping site, immediately. Safe camping for people who want care, who want help,” she said.

“They need to be safe from being raped, safe from being murdered, safe from being beat up, safe from being run over. What if she had a safe camp to go to? Would she have to lay down right there to sleep?

“She didn’t deserve that for that reason, for being homeless,” Randy Chavez said of his little sister.

“My sister was loved. The only thing she wanted was to be free.”