A 72-year-old Florida woman has been arrested in an alleged hit-and-run that killed two young children and left their mother in a coma with “basically no brain function or response,” prosecutors allege.
On Monday, Feb. 10, at about 8:30 p.m., Taeler Bennett, 29, was crossing a street in Sarasota with her 5-month-old son, Kiylan, in a baby carrier on her chest and pushing her 2-year-old son, Rio, in a stroller, when they were struck by a Lexus, police said in a statement.
Bennett landed on top of the hood of the white Lexus ES300 and slammed into the windshield, shattering it, Assistant State Attorney Josha Wertheim said, Fox13 News reports.
The driver “fled the scene, failing to render aid or contact 911,” the Sarasota Police Department alleged in the statement.
Police launched an investigation and on Monday, March 3, arrested June Fenton, of Sarasota.
Fenton was charged with two counts of leaving the scene of a traffic crash resulting in a fatality and leaving the scene of a traffic crash resulting in serious injury.
She was taken into custody and taken to the Sarasota County Jail where she remains held on a $650,000 bond, according to online jail records.
At a hearing in court on Tuesday, March 4, Wertheim said that Fenton, a retired hospice worker, was out that night feeding stray cats when she allegedly struck the family, Fox 13 News reports.
Prosecutors alleged that Bennett and her children had just started crossing the road and were “clearly visible” when they were struck by the car, News Channel 8 reports.
Fenton continued driving southbound on U.S. 301 before circling back to the crash site, prosecutors said, according to News Channel 8.
Bennett and the two children were lying in the middle of the road, surrounded by bystanders who were checking on them, according to prosecutors.
Fenton allegedly drove off again, prosecutors said.
Fenton’s attorney, Derek Byrd, said in court that Fenton thought she had hit a dog, according to News Channel 8.
“She loves dogs, and when she circled back around to go see if it was a dog and she saw people standing around a dark place which she thought there may be a dog there,” Byrd said. “She loves animals, she did not want to see the dog suffering, so she went home.”
In a GoFundMe set up to help defray medical and rehabilitation costs, Hope McIntosh wrote that Bennett, her sister, who has two other children, remains in critical condition “following a traumatic brain injury and the loss of our two precious boys.”
“Taeler is not just a mother — she is a sister, a daughter, a partner, and a beam of light,” she wrote. “She has always put others before herself, and now she needs our help more than ever.”
An obituary for the two boys says Rio, 2, “loved trucks of every sort and size. He also enjoyed swimming, playing at the beach, digging in the dirt and being with his family.”
Five-month-old Kiylan “enjoyed rolling over, cuddling with his momma, laughing and interacting with his family,” it says. “Rio and Kiylan brought so much joy and light to everyone they touched. They are deeply missed.”
