Posted on 10/27/2009 6:19:43 PM PDT by ETL
2 Foster Children Killed, 3 Others Seriously Injured After Van Crossed Yellow Lines
Suspect Allegedly Removed Middle Row Of Seats, Had Children Sit On Floor
QUEENS (CBS) -- A Queens woman behind the wheel of a minivan that crossed the yellow lines and crashed into another van on Monday, killing two foster children inside the van, was charged with manslaughter Tuesday, and sources tell CBS 2 drug paraphernalia was found inside her vehicle.
Police say Sheila Bethea, 45, was driving a Mazda minivan with six passengers – five foster children between the ages of 5 and 15 and a 43-year-old woman – shortly before 5 p.m. Monday when she drove into oncoming traffic and smashed into a Toyota van at the intersection of Arcade Avenue and Dunkirk Street.
Two of the children, identified as 15-year-old Katherine Willis and 5-year-old Melissa Elh-Mirra, were killed in the wreck. Bethea and the other passengers all remain hospitalized with serious injuries, but are expected to survive. The driver of the other vehicle, 63-year-old Carl Williams, was treated at the hospital and released.
Sources told CBS 2 that a crack pipe was found in Bethea's van, and that her blood alcohol content was .03, which is below the legal limit, but indicates she also may have been drinking before she got behind the wheel. Authorities are still awaiting toxicology results on Bethea to see if any illegal substances were in her blood.
Police are charging Bethea with second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. They also say the middle row of seats in Bethea's van was missing and at least one of the children was sitting on the floor while riding.
If convicted on all charges, Bethea faces up to seven years in prison.
The children involved in the accident are believed to be the foster children of Bethea's mother.
So this is what passes for foster parents these days?
There has always been stupid and irresponsible people. We just hear more about it because of the internet where local stories are shared nationally.
From today’s New York Daily News...
“Yesterday’s accident occurred at 5 p.m. when a Mazda van driven by Bethea was traveling along Dunkirk Street near Liberty Avenue in St. Albans and collided with a Toyota minivan.
Law-enforcement sources said Bethea was speeding up to 70mph and had veered across the center double yellow lines into the wrong side of the road when her vehicle collided with the other van.”
[snip]
“A 15-year-old girl, Katherine Willis, died at Queens Hospital Center about an hour after the crash, cops said.
The second victim, identified by sources as Melissa Ehl-Mirra, 5, died this morning after she had been taken to Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Another young child, a 7 year old, was still hospitalized in critical condition.”
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/driver_in_fatal_queens_crash_had_Mc6EPNTYKI2txnlhaYy27J
You are right, of course. As a previous foster child I have had little use for them in my lifetime.
re: She had also not properly secured the children in car seats, cops said. A source said one of the vehicle’s three rows of seats had been removed and that some of her young passengers were sitting on the floor
Regardless of the outcome of the toxicology screen she is guilty as charged. It is so disturbing to me to see a vehicle that has a child or children inside but not in a car seat or seat belt. Even in a relatively minor collision an unsecured child is at great risk.
Thankfully, I don’t see it nearly as often these days, but I still encounter it once a week or so.
How....vibrant!!
More details from today, Oct 28, 2009...
“Two young girls lost their lives. Another, a 5-year-old, was fighting for hers Tuesday night. She is in a medically induced coma, with sources telling CBS 2 HD she’s undergone brain surgery and remains in extremely critical condition.
The details on the crack pipe that was in the minivan packed with children are stunning. District Attorney Richard Brown announced it is being linked directly to the woman who drove the car.
“It was discovered in the purse of the defendant when she got to the hospital, the crack pipe,” Brown said.
That driver, 45-year-old Sheila Bethea, is being charged with manslaughter in the deaths of two foster children in her minivan, ages 5 and 15.
Police said the driver was speeding along at 70 mph when she crossed the double yellow line and crashed into an oncoming car at the intersection of Arcade Avenue and Dunkirk Street in St. Albans. The minivan’s middle row of seats was missing and at least two children were sitting on the floor of the vehicle.
In all, five foster children were in the car, along with their nanny.
“She was taking these kids on the way to visit their birth parents,” Brown said.
This is a woman who is no stranger to the law, having been arrested three times prior – twice for possession of crack cocaine, the other for DWI. This time, her alleged actions took the life of two young girls.
Witnesses said she looked like she was on drugs.
“The mother looked like a little crack head. She was walking funny,” one person said.
“The car was going full speed,” another added.
It’s believed the car was really moving when it crashed into another vehicle. That driver was treated and released from the hospital.
It’s the latest in a series of wrecks involving vehicles packed with children:
* On Oct. 11, a crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway killed an 11-year-old and injured six other girls.
* In July, a driver killed herself, four children and three men while going the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway.
In those cases, drugs or alcohol allegedly contributed.
This one appears the same.
“I just think the driver was not in the right frame of mind,” one witness said.
The five children involved in the accident are believed to be the foster children of the defendant’s mother.”
http://wcbstv.com/local/fatal.crack.pipe.2.1274200.html
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