Crime Parents are charged after their son, 7, is struck dead in a car accident - The 76-year-old driver will not face any charges.

The Gastonia Police Department in Gastonia, N.C.
Gastonia Police Department

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.

Jessica Ivey and Samuele Jenkins were charged two days after their son Legend died from injuries caused by being struck by a Jeep on May 27 in Gastonia, a rural town in North Carolina. The 76-year-old driver will not face any charges.


Legend Jenkins
via Facebook

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, according to The Gaston Gazette. The brothers had to cross the busy, four-lane road, but attempted to go between crosswalks.

Witnesses told WSOC-TV of Charlotte that Legend stepped into traffic as his older brother attempted to hold him back.

Jenkins said he was on the phone with his elder son when the younger child was hit.

“I heard my oldest son yell, ‘Legend, no!’ so I hung up and ran. I just ran to find them,” he told the local television station.

Two days later, Gastonia police arrested the parents, who are being held on $1.5 million bond.

“In such cases, adults must be held accountable for their responsibilities to ensure a safe environment for their children,” police said in a statement.

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.”

The parents’ public defenders did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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.”

Summer Williams was in her car and witnessed the event. She told WSOC that Legend, apparently unaware of oncoming traffic, jumped into the street to the surprise of his brother, who tried to stop him. Williams said she comforted the child until paramedics arrived.

“Even at night, I still see his face,” she said. “Just letting him know that somebody was there and he wasn’t alone. ‘Stay with us, sweetheart. You’re going to be all right. Stay with us,’” Williams said she told the child.

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[Grub]

There are plenty of olds who can drive fine

I disagree. I live in a place with an excessive number of old people driving. Every single day is fucking nightmarish on the road. The local medical clinic has had 3 cars drive through their front window in the last two years. Every single one was an old person that mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal. There's accidents constantly and it's literally a single lane highway that's basically straight apart from a few curves you barely need to slow down for. Every single day I get stuck behind some old fuck driving 20km/h under the speed limit crossing over both lines every curve. Old fucks who slam on their brakes, come to a complete stop then signal before slowly drifting to the right to make turns. I fucking hate them so unbelievably much. They're all dangerous as fuck and there should be mandatory road tests every year after turning 65. It's fucking absurd that people who can barely walk, barely see and have absolutely abysmal reaction time should be freely driving vehicles.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

…Food Lion still exists?

 

[The Ugly One]

So you're legally required in whatever shithole this happened in to be a helicopter parent?

Helicopter parenting is the law of the land in most of America. People whine about how kids don't play outside any more, but in most places, including red states, if your kids are playing outside by themselves, there's a good chance that CPS will take your kids, you're going to jail, and they're growing up in the foster system.

 

[Disdainer of the Plebs]

It seems like the kids were taught not to run into the street, on account of how the older brother acted. I think this is just a really unfortunate demonstration of natural selection in action.

Honestly I think prosecuting the parents for letting a 7 and 10 year old walk a few blocks up the street unsupervised is a crass overreach of the state.

 

[Snekposter]

Reminds me of this

View attachment 7473195

To be fair that is the Rotherham area, and these days a kid that tried to walk six miles by himself would be lucky to make it to three before he got snatched up.

It seems like the kids were taught not to run into the street, on account of how the older brother acted. I think this is just a really unfortunate demonstration of natural selection in action.

Honestly I think prosecuting the parents for letting a 7 and 10 year old walk a few blocks up the street unsupervised is a crass overreach of the state.

Yeah, sometimes shit like this just happens and nobody is really at fault.

 

[Disdainer of the Plebs]

Yeah, sometimes shit like this just happens and nobody is really at fault.

Definitely gonna take some flak over this take given how overprotective some kiwis get of the little ones (and rightly so), but i'm going to do it anyway. Legend is at fault.

Again, I'm figuring he was taught not to run into the street, given his brother tried to restrain him, but he didn't listen and did it anyways. It doesn't make it less sad, and it doesn't mean we should punish children the same way we do as adults, but neither of those things invalidates the laws of physics, which the natural world enforces without mercy and without exception. 2 tons of motor vehicle at 45 miles an hour does not discriminate, and sadly little Legend made his choice and won't be getting a second chance. Sometimes life just works out that way.

 

[Dr. Butt]

I remain convinced that the vast majority of these faggots weren't the least bit afraid of fucking covid, they just really loved the state handing them a legitimate sounding excuse to not work, do nothing but bed-rot, doomscroll, and rapidly gain weight ordering Ubereats that other people are paying for, they could avoid their cognitive dissonance and guilt for living that way because (as far as they know) nobody else can go socialize/work/do any activities either, they were given carte blanche to live out their gay ass power tripping petty tyrant fantasies by loudly and often policing adherence to retarded security theater, and to top it off the state patted them on the ass and called them heroes for just being an entire piece of shit.

You are correct. They can also be identified by how loud and obnoxious they were with "and then MY WHOLE LIFE turned into pixels on a screen. It was SO HARD to just be online like ALL THE TIME which I was not used to because I never do that sort of thing". Everyone who had an actual smartphone addiction just used covid to legitimize it.

Anyway, old people should not be driving.

 

[BikeLock]

I was taught to look both ways to cross a street at that age.

One less future rocket surgeon.

Tragic.