The parents of a 7-year-old boy who was hit and killed by a car were charged with involuntary manslaughter for allowing him and his brother to walk home alone.
Jessica Ivey and Samuele Jenkins were charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, felony child neglect, and misdemeanour child neglect after their son Legend died of injuries after being hit by a Jeep Cherokee driven by a 76-year-old woman on May 27 in Gastonia, North Carolina, according to a Gastonia Police Department release.
Authorities said that the woman driving the Jeep does not face charges.
Legend and his 10-year-old brother were heading home alone from a Food Lion store two streets from their house.
According to the Gaston Gazette, Jessica Ivey was shopping at Food Lion and allowed Legend and his older brother to walk home afterward. The news site reported that it was the first time she had let her children cross the street on their own.
Legend and his brother were leaving the store and needed to cross a busy four-lane street, so they tried to walk between crosswalks, according to the Gaston Gazette.
When Legend attempted to cross the street outside the crosswalk, he was struck by a car. Legend died at a nearby hospital after receiving life-threatening injuries, according to the Gastonia Police Department.
Samuele Jenkins told WSOC-TV in Charlotte that he was on the phone with his boys when the crash happened. “I heard my oldest son, and he was like, ‘Oh my God, Legend, no, no,'” he told the TV station. “I hung up and hurried to find them. Witnesses told the WSOC that Legend “stepped into traffic as his older brother tried to hold him back.”
Gastonia Police arrested Ivey and Jenkins two days after the accident and are currently holding them without bond.
According to KAKE-TV in Kansas, the parents’ next court appearance is planned for June 20.