The 30-year-old mother of a 10-month-old boy who was killed on Saturday after being struck by a vehicle in the driveway of an Ocean County, New Jersey home, has been charged with driving without a license during the incident that left her child dead.
On Monday, law enforcement officials in Ocean County announced that Wendy Castillo-Torres, 30, of Lakehurst, has been charged with driving without a license in an incident that caused death after she was, allegedly, behind the wheel of a vehicle that struck and killed her 10-month-old son on Saturday.
The charges, officials said, follow an incident that happened at about 6:15 p.m. on Saturday when officers responded to a report of an unresponsive child at a home along Grawtown Road in Jackson Township, New Jersey.
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WATCH HEREThere, officials said, an infant was injured after it was struck by a vehicle in the driveway. The child, officials said, was taken to a nearby hospital where it was pronounced dead.
According to police, an investigation revealed that the child was positioned in a bouncer seat between two vehicles in the driveway while the mother of the child, Castillo-Torres, cleaned the vehicles.
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SIGN UP At some point, officials said, Castillo-Torres, who did not possess a valid driver's license at the time, entered one of the vehicles to move it.
However, investigators believe Castillo-Torres shifted the vehicle into drive instead of reverse and caused the vehicle to trap the infant between both vehicles, leading the boy to suffer deadly injuries.
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“Our investigation indicates that this is a tragic accident, our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a statement on the charges.
An investigation is ongoing, officials said.
