A 5-week-old infant girl died in a car crash while her mother fled from police after she allegedly stole baby items from a Louisiana Walmart, police said.
Edward Williams and Candace Gill, 38, allegedly fled shortly before officers arrived at the Walmart in Monroe after someone reported a shoplifting incident on Monday evening.
The pair fled with their baby and eomployees told officers they had stolen baby care items, according to court recorders obtained by CBD affiliate KNOE-TV.
When officers later located the pair’s vehicle, they said the driver turned onto a highway and accelerated. Officers then pursued the vehicle, and activated lights and sirens, but the vehicle failed to stop, according to the court records.
The car crashed shortly after, and Gill is alleged to have fled while police treated the passengers.
The 5-week-old baby was taken to a nearby hospitalm but she later died from her injuries, according to the network. Williams was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Monroe Police Department (MPD) spokesperson told KNOE-TV officers believe the child was not restrained in the vehicle prior to the crash,
In a Facebook post on Tuesday May 10, an MPD spokesperson said: “Gill is wanted for her involvement in a theft and serious crash that occurred at 165 and Renwick Street on May 9, 2022, leaving one person dead and three injured.”
Gill was later arrested that night in an apartment complex and was booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center.
She was later charged with two counts of manslaughter, aggravated obstruction of a highway, four count of negligent injury, theft, and numerius traffic violations.
Gill had several other active warrants out for her arrest, according to the network, including theft of a firearm anf possession of a firearm.
According ot the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, there were 997 crash-related deaths in 2021, which surpassed the previous record number of 993 death in 2007.
