Florida Mom Charged With DUI and Child Abuse After Leaving Baby in Wrecked Car: Cops

A Florida woman was arrested Thursday on child abuse charges after she rolled her Jeep into a ditch, trapping her baby in the back seat, and told a witness not to call 911.

Josefina Lopez, 21, was charged with DUI with property damage, and abuse, aggravated abuse, and neglect of a child, WKMG reported.

The accident took place near Hancock and Johns Lake Roads in Lake County outside Orlando, police said. When officers arrived, they found Lopez standing on the sidewalk next to the vehicle, “not attempting to remove [the child] from the overturned vehicle,” officers wrote.

Police officers extracted the boy from the back seat. Officers wrote in an affidavit that they could smell alcohol on Lopez’s breath and that her yes were “glassy and bloodshot.”

“Josefina advised that she was en route to the store, when she missed a turn on her directions to her phone and attempted to U-turn on Hancock Road,” the affidavit says.

Officers asked how fast she was driving, and Lopez said she wasn’t sure but “she knew she was not in an area where she should not be travelling over 50-60 mph.” Both Lopez and the child — whose age was not given but was referred to as a baby — were taken to the hospital, where the baby received medical care.

Lopez, meanwhile, told police she was homeless.

“When asked about a current phone number, Josefina advised that she did not have a phone and that it was disabled,” an officer wrote in the affidavit. “It should be noted that I observed Josefina to have a phone, and she was making calls on it during portions of my interactions with her.”

A witness also told police that Lopez was making calls on her phone and appeared to be talking with her father.

“(The witness) advised that she was able to observe Josefina exit the vehicle through the driver’s door with the door slamming behind her, the affidavit says. “(She) witnessed Josefina immediately stated, ‘Don’t call 911, don’t call 911, help me get (REDACTED) he’s in the car.’”

But Lopez did not attempt to get the child out of the car, and the witness reported that she could hear. She said she tried to flag down another passing vehicle for help while Lopez spoke on the phone.

“It should be noted Josefina was not the one to call 911,” the affidavit says. “(REDACTED), a witness, was the one who had called in regard to the accident while Josefina had full access to her phone and continued to make other calls.”

Lopez refused field sobriety exercises or a breath test.

Lopez was given a $7,000 bond. The child was handed over to a family friend, but police said Lopez told an employee with the Department of Children and Families that she would be leaving Florida as soon as she got out of jail.

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[Featured image: Josefina Lopez/Lake County Jail]