Mother and Boyfriend Arrested After 7-Year-Old Girl Falls Out Of Moving SUV, Fatally Struck On California Freeway

Iesha July 9, 2022 News Leave a comment

Early on Saturday morning in Santa Clarita, California, a 7-year-old girl was killed after she fell from a moving SUV traveling northbound on the 5 Freeway.

According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the girl’s mother, Veronda Gladney, and her boyfriend, Michael Branch, were detained for endangering the welfare of a child.

Around 3 a.m., the incident occurred as Gladney, 28, was driving the car near Weldon Canyon Road, and Branch was the passenger.

According to NBC Los Angeles, officers responded to the scene after receiving a call that a vehicle “had struck an unknown stationary object, which was blocking the roadway.”

“[The girl] was in the very back portion of the 1999 Lincoln Navigator,” CHP Officer Joshua Greengard told ABC7. “Witnesses said that she was either hanging out or playing in the back portion, the very, very back portion of it. That window was already broken out, and it looks like she may have fallen out of the vehicle and then tragically died.”

The officer also explained to the outlet that the girl wasn’t in a child seat when she fell from the window.

Ricardo Santiago, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, said that Gladney was charged with one felony and one misdemeanor count of child abuse causing death and a single felony count of vehicular manslaughter.

On Wednesday, it was reported that both suspects had pleaded not guilty. Branch, 39, was charged with one misdemeanor count of child abuse.

“I’ve never had a kid falling out of a moving vehicle,” added Officer Greengard. “I’ve been to numerous tragedies in my time, but this one is very unfortunate. It’s very sad.”

At the scene of the incident, witnesses – including the drivers who struck the child and Gladney – were all extremely distressed.

“From other officers, I know she was distraught also,” he said.