WOW: Mom Charged After Her Baby Was Killed By Speeding Of Duty Cop
This is wrong on so many levels.
How could they possibly charge this woman with the death of her child after a cop doing double the speed limit is the one who did it?!
It was October when Christopher Manuel crashed his Corvette into a Nissan while speeding at 94 miles per hour, police say.
Manuel is a 27-year-old officer with the Baton Rouge Police Department in Louisiana who was off duty at the time, according to WAFB. The crash killed 1-year-old Seyaira Stephens, and in mid-February the officer was charged with negligent homicide and speeding.
After the charges were announced, Brittany Stephens, the girl’s grieving mother who was also in the car, told WAFB “you just can’t bring her back, and that’s kind of the hardest part.”
“Every time I look around, it’s like I see her,” she said, “but then I realize that she’s gone.”
Now Stephens is charged in the crash — the same count of negligent homicide given to Manuel, according to The Advocate. The mom allegedly failed to properly secure Seyaira’s car seat, police say, and didn’t ensure that the straps were adjusted correctly.
Police say those actions “show gross negligence” on the part of Stephens and were “a contributing factor in the (girl’s) death,” according to WBRZ. Stephens was booked into a local prison on Monday for a seat belt violation and the homicide charge.
There were three other adults in the car with Stephens and her baby during the crash. But police spokesman Sgt. L’Jean McKneely told The Advocate that Stephens “was the person responsible for the buckling of the car seat.” That’s why the mother, who was not driving, faces the homicide charge. -(Josh Magness, The Miami Herald