After backlash against arrest of parents in child’s death, NC lawmaker touts bill
A Gastonia couple in May gave their seven-year-old son permission to walk two blocks with his brother. That split-second decision soon became a life-altering one, when their son stepped into the road and was killed by a car — and local police charged the couple in the tragedy.
Recent national attention to the couple’s plight has prompted a state senator to re-up calls for a bipartisan bill that, if passed, would spare other North Carolina parents of their fate.
The proposed legislation would exclude most “independent activities,” such as walking to school or playing outside, from being considered as child neglect. As long as a “reasonable and prudent parent” would deem a given independent activity to be safe, depending on the child’s age, maturity and physical and mental capabilities, they would not be held liable.
State Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, who represents part of Wake County and serves as the state senate’s Democratic whip, co-sponsored the bill in March. He described it as a companion to a bill restricting children’s phone use in North Carolina’s public schools, which was signed into law in July.
“We have laws that really promote helicopter parenting,” Chaudhuri said Friday. “The legislation is important to me, both as a parent and a lawmaker… I felt like the legislation reflects a sense of where the laws needed to be, and that is to try to encourage parents to raise resilient, independent and confident children.”
Eight other states have passed similar legislation, often dubbed reasonable childhood independence laws.
After the North Carolina bill’s introduction, it was referred to the state Senate rules committee. Though the bill has not since moved along, Chaudhuri voiced optimism about its future.
He stressed that the bill already has bipartisan support. The bill’s other two sponsors are Republicans: state Sen. Jim Burgin, who represents Lee and Harnett counties, and state Senate Majority Leader Michael Lee, who represents most of New Hanover County.
Chaudhuri said he also hopes the national backlash to the charging of the Gastonia couple in connection with their son’s death will bring the bill to the fore.
“We should not have laws on the books that are going to penalize and literally break up this family from a very deliberative and thoughtful decision that they made to allow their two young boys to walk to the local grocery store,” he said.
Gastonia couple charged with child neglect
On May 27, Gastonia resident Jessica Ivey, 30, was shopping at a local Food Lion with her two eldest sons. When the boys, aged 10 and seven, asked for permission to walk the two blocks home to their father, Ivey agreed.
As the children walked home, the elder was on the phone with Samuele Jenkins, his father. Jenkins, 31, told WSOC he heard his eldest son cry out, “Legend, no!” when his brother stepped into the street, colliding with a Jeep Cherokee.
The younger boy, Legend, died later that night at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte. Two days later, Gastonia police charged Ivey and Jenkins with involuntary manslaughter and child neglect. The Jeep’s driver, a 76-year-old woman, did not face any charges.
The Gastonia Police Department Facebook post announcing that the couple had been charged racked up over 800 comments, many of which condemned the decision.
A spokesperson for the department declined to comment on the decision to bring charges against Jenkins and Ivey.
In June, Jenkins and Ivey pleaded guilty to felony child neglect charges. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped the involuntary manslaughter felony charges and spared the couple prison time. Instead, Jenkins and Ivey were sentenced to 36 and 30 months of probation, respectively.
The Gaston County District Attorney’s office did not reply to The Charlotte Observer’s request for comment on the couple’s sentencing.
Matt Hawkins, the public defender who represented Ivey, voiced support for the state Senate bill. If the legislation had been passed before Legend’s death, he said, charging and convicting the couple would have been much more difficult.
Jenkins’ lawyer Charles Lifford also supported the bill. Despite nearly two months having passed since the couple’s sentencing, he said he still questions whether Ivey and Jenkins’ choice to let their children walk unsupervised should have been considered neglect.
“If I was an officer and I rode by and I saw a 10-year-old and seven-year-old little brother crossing that street on Hudson Boulevard… would my first thought be, ‘oh, that’s child neglect?’” said Lifford, who served on Gastonia’s police force for nearly three decades before becoming an attorney. “I’m not necessarily certain that would be the first thought I’d have. And if it’s not, then the tragedy occurs, why does it suddenly rise to that level?”
This story was originally published August 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
