A 7-year-old boy died crossing the street. His parents are being charged.
Parents in North Carolina were arrested after allegedly leaving their 7-year-old son unsupervised when he was fatally struck by a car while trying to cross the street, police said.
Gastonia police said on May 29 that Jessica Ivey and Samuele Jenkins have been charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, felony child neglect, and misdemeanor child neglect. The incident involving the parents' young son occurred around 5:55 p.m. on Tuesday, May 27, according to the department.
Officers responded to the scene after receiving a report about a traffic collision, and upon their arrival, they found that a Jeep Cherokee had hit the 7-year-old boy, police said. The 76-year-old driver of the vehicle was traveling east when she struck the child, the department added.
The police's preliminary investigation determined that the child was attempting to cross the street outside of a crosswalk with another young boy, age 10, when he entered the roadway and was hit, the department said. The boy was taken to a medical center with life-threatening injuries and later transferred to Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead around 10:00 p.m., according to police.
More news: A mom has been charged with her son's death. She says God told her to 'exorcise demons'.
As Gastonia police offered "its deepest sympathies to the family for the heartbreaking loss of their child," the department said its investigation revealed that the boy was unsupervised at the time he stepped into traffic.
"In such cases, adults must be held accountable for their responsibilities to ensure a safe environment for their children," police said.
No charges have been filed against the driver of the Jeep Cherokee after no evidence of speeding or wrongdoing on her part was found, police said, adding that the woman continues to be cooperative. The incident remains under active investigation, according to the department.
Both Ivey and Jenkins remain in the custody of the Gaston County Jail with $1.5 million bonds, according to inmate records.
Anyone who witnessed the deadly crash or may have relevant information can contact Corporal Carpenter with the Gastonia Police Department at 704-866-6702.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Army vet killed in crash was well-known in Tacoma motorcycle community
When a biker in Pierce County purchased a new motorcycle, they'd often find a little fish hook drawn on its mirror. Rodger Smith, who went by Dean and also was known as 'Fish Hook,' was the usual culprit. 'As soon as you went outside on the bike and looked in your mirror you realized Fish Hook was there,' Ryan Eaton, who considered Smith his best friend, told The News Tribune. 'And there were places you would go and see little fish hooks.' Eaton said seeing little fish hooks now is hard to take after Smith was killed over a week ago in a crash. Smith and his wife were riding their motorcycles on 152nd Street East in South Hill when the driver of a Jeep Cherokee reportedly struck him. Before the crash, the driver's vehicle reportedly went out of control when it exited a right-hand corner, crossed the center line and hit Smith head-on, according to charging documents. Smith was ejected from his bike and died upon impact, documents show. Pierce County prosecutors charged Christy Lynn Carter, 42, with vehicular homicide. Prosecutors say Carter was driving drunk at the time, with her recorded her blood-alcohol level allegedly at 0.15 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08. She was released from the Pierce County Jail on May 28 on a $100,000 bond, records show. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office identified the victim as Rodger Smith of Puyallup. He died from multiple blunt force injuries and his manner of death was listed as an accident, according to a news release. Eaton met Smith through mutual friends that he rode motorcycles with over a decade ago. Smith was part of a local motorcycle club in Tacoma and a proud U.S. Army combat veteran. 'He was the kind of guy to try to make everything fun,' Eaton told The News Tribune on Thursday. 'He always tried to put a positive twist on things, and try to get everybody to laugh.' Eaton said he learned of Smith's death after a mutual friend called him to say people had been posting on Facebook about the crash. 'Then I saw the video, the raw video from the scene, and I immediately recognized the bike, because that bike spent several months with me. I just got that bike put back together, had the engine done up, and just got it running right,' Eaton said. 'It was his favorite bike.' The next day, Eaton rode out to the accident scene because felt he needed to go there. 'That's kind of how I had to originally accept what had happened, by actually being there and seeing the large area that this accident scene covered,' he said. Tributes have poured in through Facebook from people who knew Smith. Eaton said his friend was well known, and anytime Smith showed up at an event, there was always someone who knew him there. Smith also always made it a priority to check up on the soldiers that he served with, Eaton said. He would go to reunions with them, making sure they were OK as they had seen stuff 'that none of us want to think about seeing.' 'That's the ultimate sacrifice, to leave your country and lose your life for your country. But to survive it, come home and be taken out this way — it just doesn't seem right,' Eaton said. A celebration of life is scheduled for June 21 when people will be riding to Eatonville for a gathering. There will be a service at the Tahoma National Cemetery on June 25. Eaton said he expected 'quite a few people' to show up at both events.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Parents Face Charges After Driver Kills 7-Year-Old Crossing The Street
Parents grieving the death of their 7-year-old son, hit and killed by an SUV driver in May, are facing charges because police said he was 'unsupervised' while crossing the street with his 10-year-old brother. Jessica Ivey, the mother of 7-year-old Legend Jenkins, told WSOC-TVbefore her arrest that she had allowed the boys to walk to a grocery store two blocks away from their home in Gastonia, North Carolina, on May 27. A 76-year-old woman driving a Jeep Cherokee hit the younger boy just before 6 p.m. as he was trying to cross a four-lane road, the Gastonia Police Department said in a press release. He died in a hospital hours after the accident from his injuries. Legend's mother and father, Samuele Jenkins, were charged with felony involuntary manslaughter and child neglect in the 7-year-old's death. They also face a misdemeanor charge of child neglect. Records show they are being held in Gaston County Jail on $150,000 bond each. 'While the Gastonia Police Department offers its deepest sympathies to the family for the heartbreaking loss of their child, the investigation revealed that the children involved were unsupervised at the time the boy stepped into traffic,' police wrote in the release. 'In such cases, adults must be held accountable for their responsibilities to ensure a safe environment for their children.' The Gastonia police department has received massive backlash following news of the parents' arrests, with numerous people expressing their outrage on social media. The department declined to comment on the controversy. The 76-year-old driver who struck Legend with her vehicle has not been charged. Police said there was no evidence of wrongdoing, noting that she was not speeding and is cooperating with the ongoing investigation. Legend's grieving mother believes the woman's driving privileges should be revoked. 'It's hard, I haven't stopped crying; my husband hasn't stopped crying,' she told WSOC-TV. 'Honestly, I want justice for my baby. She shouldn't still be able to drive.' A Mom Was Arrested After Her 11-Year-Old Walked Into Town Alone. She Says They Did Nothing Wrong. What Is Child Endangerment? When Leaving Your Child Alone Becomes A Crime. Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning On TV. There Are Subtle Signs To Watch For.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
2 injured in 4-vehicle crash on Highway 61 in Winona
Jun. 5—WINONA — Two drivers were injured in a chain-reaction crash on Highway 61 in Winona on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. A 2018 Chevrolet Malibu was northbound on Highway 61 near the intersection with Highway 43 when it left the roadway, causing a chain reaction crash involving a 2019 Jeep Cherokee, a 2022 Honda Odyssey and a 2019 Ford Transit Van around 4:04 p.m., according to a Minnesota State Patrol crash report. The drivers of the Chevrolet Malibu, Caleb John Scharpf, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Jeep Cherokee, Wendy Ann Bublitz, 63, of Winona, were transported to Winona Health with non-life-threatening injuries. The drivers of the Honda Odyssey and Ford Transit Van were not injured, according to the report. The Winona County Sheriff's Office, Winona Police Department, Winona Fire Department and Winona Area Ambulance also responded to the scene.
