A pregnant woman who was captured on video driving her minivan with three children in it into the Atlantic Ocean in Daytona Beach, Fla., remained in the hospital Wednesday, undergoing a mental health evaluation, law enforcement officials said.
No charges have been filed against the woman, Sheriff Ben F. Johnson of Volusia County said at a news conference near the site of the incident, which occurred Tuesday. Investigators still needed to interview the woman before deciding whether to proceed with charges or take other steps, he said.
“At this time, we have to evaluate it â€" even if it is a crisis incident, do we file charges or not?†he said. “Our goal is to make sure that she gets into the system, one way or another, for the protection of her and the children.â€
The woman’s children â€" ages 3, 9 and 10 â€" were in state custody, Sheriff Johnson said.
Daytona Beach police officers had interviewed the woman earlier on Tuesday, hours before the incident, after a relative told the police that she was acting strangely, Sheriff Johnson said. The officers said she showed signs of mental illness, but not enough to justify taking her into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, he said.
The woman told the officers that she was headed to a domestic violence shelter to hide from her abusive husband, Sheriff Johnson said. The woman’s sister said she talked about demons before leaving with her children, according to a police report obtained by The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
The Baker Act allows a person to receive mental health evaluation and treatment when required, voluntarily or involuntarily. The woman sought treatment under the Baker Act, but changed her mind, The News-Journal reported.
“Obviously, she had some crisis, but they did not meet the criteria to be able to do anything with her at that time,†Sheriff Johnson said.
The woman raised alarms when she drove outside the beach’s traffic lane and took a hard left toward the water, said Mark Swanson, the county director of beach safety.
Video of the incident showed the woman walking away from the van as bystanders and rescuers rushed to pull her children to safety.
“The two in the back seat was crying, with their arms out, saying: ‘Our mommy’s trying to kill us. Please help,’ †one of the rescuers, Tim Tesseneer, told WESH, the local NBC affiliate.
The woman did not respond to questions from the rescuers, Mr. Tesseneer said. “She had this look on her face. I can’t describe it,†he said. “It was just an awful blank look, like spaced-out look.â€
The video shows waves cresting over the van as it bobbed in the surf. The waves turned the van parallel to the ocean and nearly capsized it. No one was seriously injured.
“If it’d been minutes longer, the outcome would probably have been different,†Mr. Swanson said.
The woman and her children were taken to the hospital for treatment.
The children were released to the state Department of Children and Families. They would be handed over to family members once background checks were completed and showed that they would be in a safe environment and that relatives had not ignored prior abuse, officials said.
Mr. Johnson said the woman was from out-of-state and had relatives in the area, but it was not clear why or for how long she had been in Daytona Beach. Local reports said she was from South Carolina.
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