SF boy killed by abandoned van he was playing in

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A young San Francisco boy died Friday after he was pinned between the abandoned van in which he had been playing and a carport when the vehicle rolled unexpectedly, neighbors and family said.

The child, Assad Gibson, was playing alone in the van parked in a Bayview apartment complex where he lived when the accident occurred, according to family. The incident was reported around 1:30 p.m., said Officer Giselle Talkoff, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Police Department. But neighbors said the boy may have been trapped for almost an hour before he was found.

Assad was unresponsive when a neighbor found him. His body was pinned halfway out of the van’s driver’s seat door, which was forced shut by a pole in the center of the carport where the vehicle was parked. She began to cry for help, and other neighbors arrived on the scene and called 911.

Paramedics arrived and together with neighbors pushed the car to free the boy’s body, according to those at the scene. He was pronounced dead at San Francisco General Hospital.

Assad was a student at Dr. Charles Drew Alternative Elementary School, according to neighbors. He loved playing with other children in his apartment complex and spending time with his sister, according to those who knew him.

Cemetra Thomas, a neighbor whose son Errick was close with Assad, said the boy was full of life.

“He was adventure boy,” said Thomas, who had not yet told her son the news. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell my baby.”

Neighbors and relatives stood in a collective hush late Friday afternoon in the carport at the Jackie Robinson Garden Apartments, where the accident occurred. Others stood in disbelief at a distance from the carport, which sits under an apartment building at the end of a sleepy cul-de-sac on Reuel Court. Many neighborhood children play in the area regularly, according to neighbors, who were surprised Assad had been alone.

They were less surprised, however, to hear he had been playing in an abandoned car. His grandmother, Aminah Ali, said that abandoned and vandalized vehicles were frequently in the neighborhood, and children often broke into the cars to play and hang out.

“All vandalized cars should not be here,” said Ali, adding that she assumed that Assad had accidentally shifted the van out of gear and then panicked when it started to roll, leading him to be trapped halfway out the door.

Libby Rainey is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lrainey@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rainey_l