Mom left her 4-year-old daughter to die in submerged SUV after DUI crash to go take tub, DA says | EUROtoday

A California lady is in custody and going through costs after authorities say she left her four-year-old daughter to die whereas trapped in a submerged automobile after a DUI crash.

Juliette Marie Acosta, 26, is going through a number of felonies, together with homicide, felony drunk driving and resisting arrest, Stanislaus County District Attorney’s workplace mentioned Friday.

Acosta was driving her Subaru SUV together with her daughter, Reagan Herrin, when she crashed it right into a canal close to Hickman, California, on March 8, in line with the district legal professional’s workplace. Her blood alcohol stage was allegedly “nearly three times” the .08 authorized driving restrict.

Herrin’s uncle, who lived close by, rushed to the scene and helped rescue Acosta from the automobile, native authorities instructed The Sacramento Bee. Once police responded, he additionally helped a deputy rescue Herrin from the automobile.

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The deputy, alongside the uncle, “heroically, and without hesitation, entered the frigid water and rescued” the four-year-old, California Highway Patrol spokesperson Tom Olsen instructed The Sacramento Bee.

Emergency responders initially needed to take Herrin to the hospital through helicopter, however “it was determined that the patient was not stable enough to be flown,” so that they took her by ambulance, in line with the Modesto Fire Department.

Acosta wasn’t injured within the crash, The Sacramento Bee stories. Prosecutors say Acosta left the scene and took a shower whereas her daughter “remained in peril at the crash scene,” alleging her inaction induced the four-year-old’s dying.

Acosta’s legal professional Gil Somera disputes his consumer was taking a shower and accused prosecutors of making an attempt to “inflame the public’s anger.”

“Timeline-wise, it’s almost impossible to have done both of those,” he instructed The Independent. “Time-wise, you can’t go take a bath while your daughter’s drowning if it’s in her canal, not next to a home…logically, it just doesn’t make sense.”

Acosta was initially arrested on the scene in March however was charged with solely a DUI. She was later launched on bail.

Police then went to arrest Acosta early Friday morning after prosecutors added extra costs, together with homicide. Police say they apprehended her at a San Francisco resort after she tried to run. Her father Clifford Acosta Jr., has additionally been detained after police mentioned he tried to assist her escape, The Sacramento Bee stories.

Somera says he had organized with police for his consumer to give up at 8 a.m. Friday on the Modesto workplace of the California Highway Patrol.

“Any suggestion that my client was attempting to flee is completely false,” he mentioned. “Such an accusation is not only unfounded, but appears intended to inflame public opinion and provoke scorn.”

Somera mentioned Acosta’s father wasn’t serving to help her escape, however moderately preserving her near him whereas she was “emotionally and psychologically devastated.”

“Anybody who knows her father knows that he has a substantial amount of construction business in San Francisco, and he kept his daughter with her,” he added. “She was also part of his business.”

She’s now being held with out bail, the district legal professional’s workplace mentioned.

She might be going through life in jail if convicted.

“It’s about whether it’s a manslaughter versus a murder,” Somera instructed The Independent. “And so I think the public always looks at this and says, ‘Well, you did or you didn’t do it.’ Guilt is guilt, but it’s the degree of guilt, it’s the circumstances that center around with punishment is necessary, and right now everyone wants to circle around life in prison to a mother.”

A GoFundMe for Herrin’s father, Gage Herrin, was launched final month to boost cash for the “unexpected expenses” that got here along with his daughter’s dying. The GoFundMe has raised greater than $22,000 as of Saturday morning, surpassing the preliminary aim of $14,000.

“Any remaining money that has been donated after expenses will be donated back to the community on Reagan’s behalf in hopes to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future,” the GoFundMe reads.

“Thank you again for all your continued support and we pray that justice is served for Reagan.”