OZAWKIE ? A 2-year-old boy was killed after falling from a car backing out of a restaurant parking spot, authorities said Wednesday.

The boy, Michael Brown, of Ozawkie, fell from the back seat of a 1992 Pontiac Bonneville about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday as the vehicle was leaving Rumors Bar and Grill here, the Kansas Highway Patrol said. The vehicle then struck the child.

Lt. John Eickhorn, a patrol spokesman, said the 27-year-old father of the victim, who was in the car, said the rear passenger door beside the boy was closed and it was unclear how the toddler fell out.

“The father said that he had shut the door,” Eickhorn said. “These are things that we may never know.”

The car was driven by a 15-year-old boy. The patrol said none of the car’s seven occupants – including four other children ages 4 to 7 – was wearing a seat belt. State law requires car seats for all children younger than 4.

Eickhorn was unsure whether toxicology tests had been performed on the driver, though he said that would be routine.

An investigation was ongoing and an autopsy was to be conducted, with final reports going to the district attorney for consideration of any charges.

The death came as state troopers are marking National Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week, in which law enforcement officers are working overtime to check that children are wearing proper restraints.