The grieving parents of a 7-year-old child who died hours after being hit by a car were charged with involuntary manslaughter after allowing him and his brother, 10, to walk home unaccompanied by an adult from a nearby grocery store.
The 76-year-old driver will not face any charges.
The Food Lion store is two blocks away from their home. The parents said the children were with their mother when they asked to meet their father at the store, and she allowed them to leave
Gastonia police declined to comment to NBC News, but said in a statement that “there is no evidence of speeding or wrongdoing on the part of the driver, therefore no charges have been filed. The driver continues to be cooperative and the incident remains under active investigation by the Gastonia Police Department’s Traffic Division.”
Ivey, the mother, told WSOC before her arrest that it was the first time had she let the children walk alone. “It was just devastating, I’m still in shock, I’m in shock,” she said. “It’s hard, I haven’t stopped crying; my husband hasn’t stopped crying. Honestly, I want justice for my baby.”
They ran over a kid
The expectation that people are responsible in any way for what they do behind the wheel of a car is long gone. My favourite example, and I do bring this up often, is people referring to accidents with nobody but them involved other than a tree or something in the passive as “having been in a car accident”. It’s not even my fault if I take a corner too fast and slide sideways into a tree, that tree shouldn’t have been there, that road should’ve been straighter.