A Jamaica woman was charged on Wednesday for fleeing the scene of a minor accident, crashing her car and abandoning her one-year-old daughter in Ozone Park, prosecutors announced.
Malikah George, 25, faces counts of second-degree reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting/personal injury and several vehicle traffic laws including driving without a license or insurance and failing to register the vehicle.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said that George is due to return to court on Aug. 1. If convicted, she faces up to a year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
According to charges, at 6:20 p.m. on May 30, George was driving a 2004 Honda Civic when she rear-ended a white Ford Explorer in Ozone Park. When the driver of the SUV got out of his car to exchange information, George fled the scene, causing the other driver to pursue her.
After driving five or six blocks, George lost control of her car and crashed into an iron wrought fence. George then reportedly exited her car and pulled her one-year-old daughter from the vehicle yelling “my baby, my baby.”
Afterwards, George allegedly handed her child to a stranger on the street asking her to “hold my daughter down for an hour” because she knew she would be arrested.
“The defendant in this case apparently panicked after an alleged fender-bender turned into a car chase and the young mother lost control of her vehicle and crashed into a fence,” Brown said. “Acknowledging that she does not have a driver’s license nor insurance for the automobile, the mother is alleged to have run from the area and left the child with a woman on the street. Fortunately, the baby girl was unhurt and safe, but parents must always be mindful that regardless of the circumstances the safety and well-being of one’s children must be the top priority.”
