SAN DIEGO — A Southcrest couple is grappling with the tragic death of their toddler son, who ran into the path of a garbage truck driving past their home Friday. He was identified by the Medical Examiner’s Office as Jovani Louangxaysongxham, who was a month shy of his third birthday. Jovani’s mother was trying to put him and an older sibling into a vehicle parked in the driveway of their home on 43rd Street and Keeler Avenue about noon when the child spotted his father across the busy road, said San Diego police Lt. Ken Hubbs. Jovani began to run across the street to greet him, straight into the path of an Allied Waste Services truck that was moving at a slow rate of speed north on 43rd. A passenger in the truck alerted the driver, who was unable to swerve or stop in time, Hubbs said. Jovani went under the vehicle and was struck by its rear wheels. He died at the scene. Moments later, the boy’s father and uncle tried attacking the truck’s driver, forcing an officer to intervene, police said. The uncle then punched the officer in the head and knocked him unconscious. The uncle was arrested. Riashe Rodriguez and her mother were driving home when they came upon the crash scene and saw the violent encounter. “The father was hitting the dump truck and the cops tried to control him,” Rodriguez, 17, said. “They finally got him away and his brother got mad too and the cops started fighting with him.” The officer was taken to the hospital and treated for a head injury and a gash over his left eye. Neighbors and family members consoled Jovani’s mother, who watched the aftermath from the front porch of the one-story home. The road was closed for several hours as firefighters worked to recover the body from beneath the 50,000-pound truck, loaded with about nine tons of garbage. Crews used two 70-ton air bags stacked on top of one another to lift the rear of the truck three inches off the ground to free the remains, said Adam Villaescusa, a San Diego Fire-Rescue Department engineer.