Texas Woman Let Child Drive, Chaos Ensued. Watch The Crash.
Texas Woman Facing Charges For Forcing 9-Year-Old To Move Car. The Result? A High-Speed Spinout. Watch The Crash.
Ladeja Pickett, a 25-year-old Texas woman, is facing criminal charges after allegedly telling a 9-year-old girl to move her car, a decision that led to a crash and left the child seriously injured.
According to People and KSAT, Pickett has been charged with injury to a child and endangering a child since the Nov. 9 incident. Deputies were called to the crash site in San Antonio, Texas, shortly after 4 p.m. on Sunday. A spokesperson for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office told People that Pickett claimed she asked the child to move a car out of her driveway while she was putting up Christmas decorations. The spokesperson also said Pickett, who is not the child’s mother, reported that the girl knew where the keys were and “retrieved them independently.”
The child “lost control of the vehicle” and “jumped out before crashing into the neighbor’s truck,” the statement said. She suffered a forehead laceration and road rash on her leg.
Video footage of the incident obtained by People showed the car spinning out of control, the driver’s seat open, before crashing into a nearby car.
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The girl’s mother told KSAT her 9-year-old remains hospitalized and alleged that Pickett “had no right to hand a minor keys.” Pickett, described as a family friend, had been warned repeatedly that the child didn’t know how to drive, according to the mother, but Pickett allegedly insisted “she’s going to learn.”
Deputies said the crash occurred in the 4200 block of Gossan Springs.
The 9-year-old girl is expected to make a full recovery, her mother said.
The mother said the young girl, whose name remains anonymous to protect her privacy, has undergone three surgeries at University Health since the incident. She added that her daughter will need a wheelchair during her recovery, though the family is optimistic she will heal fully.
According to the mother, Pickett put the car in reverse while the child’s foot was on the gas pedal. The vehicle then shot out of the driveway, hit the curb, spun twice, struck the curb again, and ultimately crashed into a neighbor’s truck.
Ladeja Pickett was arrested and booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.
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