An Indiana mother and her children were apparently just playing a game when she allegedly ran over her 8-year-old daughter. When the accident occurred, Jasmine White, 27, was reportedly driving her car in the parking lot of the Cedar Glen Apartments in South Bend. The child survived but received critical head injuries.
According to the South Bend Police Department, officers arrived at the apartment complex in the 400 block of South 25 Street just before 6 p.m. August 29 after receiving a report of a child struck by a vehicle. It appears White hit her daughter with her car while the family played a familiar game.
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The little girl was seriously injured.
Due to the nature of the accident, the Fatal Accident Crash Team was activated, according to a news release from the St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office posted on Facebook by the South Bend Police Department. The child did not die but was seriously injured.
“The initial investigation indicated that a juvenile female’s foot was caught under the rear tire of the vehicle of her mother, Jasmine White, 27, of Elkhart, while the vehicle was in motion. The child was then pulled to the ground, sustaining critical head injuries. She was taken to the hospital where she remains in stable condition,” the release reads.
The child was released from the hospital several days later.
According to WLBT, the unidentified child was taken to the hospital and stabilized. She had skull and orbital fractions, abrasions, a facial cut exposing a portion of her skull, and she lost five teeth. She was released from the hospital after several days of intubation and IV sedation, per court documents obtained by the news outlet.
Another child witnessed the accident.
WLBT reported witnesses, including a 6-year-old, told police they were playing a game with their mother when the little girl got hurt. White would race her children to the car, lock the doors, and pretend to leave them behind. This time, she drove a bit faster than usual, and the 6-year-old told police their older sibling was holding the door handle when her mother took off.
Video footage reportedly shows the child hanging onto her mother’s car.
White was driving a Chevy Equinox on the day of the accident. Video surveillance reportedly shows the child hanging onto the car, and investigators estimate she was driving 15 to 20 miles per hour when the child fell.
Several witnesses claim they saw the mother driving erratically.
“We were driving toward South Bend, and I look out my window and I see a mom with her little kids running behind the car,” Jon Buta told WNDU. “She ends up driving, one of the little girls has her hand on the door. She ends up falling.”
Zach Schaffer also saw the accident and told the news outlet, “And by the time we were pulling up, there was already an ambulance here. So, there was a response in probably under 60 seconds.”
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White faces neglect charges.
According to online court records, White was arrested on September 11. The mother was taken to St. Joseph County Jail on a $5,000 bond. She was released Sept. 17. She is scheduled to appear in court on September 27.
