Mother charged after allegedly running over her 8-year-old daughter while playing game
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU/Gray News) - An Indiana mother has been arrested and charged after police say she ran over her 8-year-old daughter at an apartment complex, leaving the girl with severe head injuries.
Jasmine White, 27, is charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury as well as neglect of a dependent placing the dependent in a dangerous situation after police say she ran over her 8-year-old daughter.
The incident happened Aug. 29 at Cedar Glen Apartments in South Bend, WNDU reports.
The 8-year-old girl was taken to the hospital in critical condition after investigators say her foot got caught under the rear tire of her mother’s moving vehicle, pulling her to the ground and causing severe head injuries.
Physicians were able to stabilize the girl, and she was eventually released from the hospital after several days of intubation and IV sedation, according to court paperwork. She was diagnosed with skull and orbital fractures, various abrasions and a large facial laceration that had exposed a portion of the front of her skull. She also lost five teeth.
Witnesses told police that the 8-year-old and several of her siblings were running alongside a Chevrolet Equinox that White was driving at the time of the incident.
Police say one of those siblings, a 6-year-old, told investigators it was part of a game White routinely plays where she races the kids to the car, locks the doors and acts as though she is going to leave them behind.
The 6-year-old said White was driving faster than normal this time around, and the 8-year-old girl was holding onto the door handle when she got run over and went down, hitting her head.
Video footage of the incident shows the Equinox increasing in speed while the 8-year-old was still hanging on to the front passenger door handle, according to charging documents. It’s estimated that White was driving approximately 15 to 20 miles per hour when the girl fell.
White is due in court Monday afternoon, according to St. Joseph County Jail records.
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