Sheriff: Mom said she was sleeping when unrestrained 4-year-old fell out of moving car
FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. —
A 4-year-old child suffered a few scrapes but was otherwise ok after falling out of a moving vehicle on a busy road in Flagler County.
Flagler County Sheriffs deputies say a woman and her brother were traveling from South Florida to South Carolina with her four young children in the vehicle.
Advertisement
The 4-year-old fell out of the moving vehicle as the driver, the uncle, made a U-turn on State Road 100 just east of Interstate 95.
Some minutes after the child, his mother and uncle returned to find themselves in trouble with the law.
Mom: How did he fall out of my car?
Deputy: You tell me that. Was he buckled in?
Mom: I was sleeping.
Investigators ultimately arrested Jacob Santos and Desiree Rodriguez on a number of charges, including child neglect. Deputies say none of the children in the vehicle were restrained, just riding in the back with no car seats. A good Samaritan saw the car door open and a child fall out.
“This kid comes rolling out of it, he falls out of the car? He just came falling out of its side, rolls all the way over and the car took off, the car just kept going,” the witness said.
Deputies say the vehicle was north on I-95 when another of the children alerted the adults, the 4-year-old was missing. The Good Samaritan held on to him until deputies arrived.
Deputies say they recovered marijuana in the vehicle and evidence it had been recently smoked, in addition to a controlled substance. They say the driver, Santos, had a suspended driver’s license.
The mother and uncle remain in custody and the children are in the care of the Department of Children and Families.
A 4-Year-Old Child Is Catapulted Out of a U-Turning Car. His Mother Was Oblivious. The Car Kept Going.
September 15, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 26 Comments
FacebookBlueskyXThreadsRedditEmailPrintFriendlyCopy LinkChia sẻ
The witness, a 36-year-old resident of Flagler Beach, was traveling on State Road 100 when he saw something one does not expect, or want, to see on a road: as an older silver sedan made a U-turn ahead of him, at the intersection with Old Kings Road, the rear passenger door swung open, and a child was catapulted out and onto the pavement.
Discover more
Flagler Beach annexation
Weather alert services
Flagler Beach crime
Florida political analysis
Flagler County Sheriff merchandise
Palm Coast development
News subscription
The car kept going west, according to the witness.
It was 6:47 this morning. The witness, who was on his way to work, immediately pulled over, cared for the child, and called 911. “I have him with me, the car has not come back,” the witness told the dispatcher.
“The 3-year-old just fell out of the car?” the dispatcher asked.
Audio: The 911 Call
Audio Player
00:00
00:00
Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.
“The back door was open, I see this kid fall out, so I got over as much as I could and went and grabbed him and am sitting with him until someone can get here, but nobody has come back,” the witness said, describing the car’s trajectory, going west. The child had a few scratches on his finger. “I think he got pretty lucky, but he’s got little scratches on his hand.” When paramedics evaluated the boy, they treated him for a cut on his right hand’s finger and scrapes on his right leg.
Discover more
Florida court coverage
Local crime reports
Weather reports
Higher education courses
Florida political commentary books
Voting rights advocacy services
Palm Coast development
Florida history tours
Local business directories
News subscription
Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the scene. As they were speaking with the witness, the other car returned, seven minutes after the witness placed the call to 911, nine or 10 minutes after the child fell.
Jacob Santos, 19, was at the wheel. He had no driver’s license. The car had an expired tag since 2019. The vehicle had no insurance. Desiree Rodriguez, 26, Santos’s brother and a resident of Fort Lauderdale, was in the passenger seat. There were three other children in the back seat, ages 5, 7 and 9. The child who’d been ejected is 4. None were secured in child-car seats. None were wearing seat belts. Their mother and uncle had not realized that the 4-year-old child had been ejected until the other children started wondering aloud where he had disappeared.
Discover more
Flagler County news
Flagler Beach
Real estate services
Florida history tours
Local event tickets
News subscription
Local crime reports
Palm Coast development
Daily briefing newsletter
Legal consulting services
There were also puppies in the back seat.
“At no time did she seem upset or remorseful at the fact that her child fell out of the vehicle while driving,” Rodriguez’s arrest report states. She refused to have the child transported to the hospital, though in such situations a concussion is possible.
There was a smell of marijuana in the car, according to the arrest report, enabling the deputies to conduct a probable cause search without a warrant. The search produced two roaches “of recently smoked marijuana” and a black bag containing about a gram of pot, plus some Xanax pills, a controlled substance, for which the vehicle occupants had no prescription.
Rodriguez told authorities she and Santos were driving from Miami to South Carolina to visit Santos’s brother. She said she’d fallen asleep and was woken up by her daughter asking where her brother was. She told authorities that at first she thought she’d forgotten him at the gas station–that he might have stepped out of the car while Santos had gone to the cashier to pay for gas. By the time they all realized the child was missing, they were already on I-95, driving north. They turned around at Palm Coast Parkway and drove back south.
Rodriguez claimed they’d bought the car and had borrowed the tag from a friend until they could get the car registered.
Santos declined to speak with deputies. Similarly, “at no time did [Santos] seem upset or remorseful about his nephew falling out of the vehicle,” the arrest report states.
Discover more
Local news updates
Flagler Beach events
Flagler County Sheriff merchandise
Crime prevention tools
County commission reports
Local event tickets
Palm Coast schools
Wildlife news
Weather alert services
Florida political commentary books
The Department of Children and Families was summoned, and took the four children to a DCF office in Bunnell. Animal Control was summoned, and took the puppies to the Flagler Humane Society. Roger’s Towing was summoned, and towed the vehicle to its Bunnell yard.
Santos and Rodriguez were arrested and booked at the Flagler County jail, Rodriguez on a felony charge of child neglect and possession of a controlled substance, and Santos on charges of felony charge neglect and traffic-related misdemeanors, including driving with unrestrained children. He’s being held on $3,400 bond.
Discover more
Weather reports
Florida political analysis
Local news updates
Palm Coast schools
Florida court coverage
Higher education courses
Flagler County Sheriff merchandise
Legal consulting services
Crime prevention tools
County commission reports
“I am glad that the child was not hurt. This could have ended very badly for the child,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a release. “Thank you to the witness for calling us and to the deputies that quickly responded to protect the child and arresting the uncle and mother for child neglect.”
