Unlicensed 16-year-old crashes during chase and his mom is charged, NC sheriff says
The mother of an “unlicensed” 16-year-old driver is facing charges after the boy fled from deputies in her car and caused a serious crash, according to investigators in North Carolina.
It happened around 2:45 p.m. Thursday in Winston-Salem, and resulted in a 61-year-old man suffering life-threatening injuries, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said in a June 19 news release.
The boy was illegally driving the car with his mother’s permission, officials said.
“At approximately 12:26 p.m., (deputies) observed a vehicle driving erratically in the area of Indiana Avenue and North Patterson Avenue. FCSO deputies attempted to stop the vehicle. After the driver refused to stop, a vehicle pursuit was initiated and canceled at 12:29 p.m. due to high speeds,” the sheriff’s office said.
“At approximately 2:45 p.m., (deputies) located the same vehicle driving erratically and attempted a second stop. The suspect vehicle fled and subsequently crashed at the intersection of Patterson Avenue and Germanton Road, striking another vehicle and causing life-threatening injuries to Robert Anthony Marcis.”
Marcis was taken to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital and details of his condition have not been released.
The 16-year-old has been “charged as an adult” with:
- Felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury
- Felony hit and run with serious injury or death
- Felony fleeing to elude arrest
- Misdemeanor reckless driving to endanger
- Misdemeanor speeding
- Misdemeanor resisting a public officer
- Misdemeanor no operators license
- Failing to stop at a steady red light
Deputies later arrested the boy’s mother, 35-year-old Adilene Medina Callejah, and charged her with misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, and misdemeanor allowing an unlicensed driver to operate a vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.
She is also accused of being in the country legally, and is being held in the Forsyth County Detention Center under a Department of Homeland Security Immigration detainer, officials said.
“This is truly a reminder that decisions create conditions and the decision to give an unlicensed child keys to a vehicle had serious consequences for our community,” Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby F. Kimbrough, Jr. said in the release.
Winston-Salem is an 80-mile drive northeast from uptown Charlotte.