A Texas woman is facing criminal charges after authorities say she instructed a 9-year-old girl to move her car, leading to a crash that injured the child.
Ladeja Pickett, 25, has been charged with injury to a child and endangering a child, according to online court records in Bexar County. Court documents did not list an attorney for her, and it is not currently known if she has entered a plea.
Deputies responded to the crash in San Antonio just after 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9. A spokesperson for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Pickett told investigators she asked the child to move the vehicle out of her driveway while she was decorating her yard for Christmas.
According to the sheriff’s office, Pickett — who is not the child’s mother — claimed the girl knew where the car keys were and retrieved them on her own.
Officials say the child then lost control of the vehicle and jumped out before it collided with a neighbor’s truck. She suffered a forehead laceration and road rash on her leg.
The girl’s mother told local station KSAT that her daughter remains hospitalized and said Pickett, a family friend, “had no right to hand a minor keys,” according to the outlet.
