PEORIA, Ariz. (TCN) — A 31-year-old woman will spend a decade behind bars for driving a vehicle through a park full of kids and running over a 12-year-old girl.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced June 14 that Brandie Gotch was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of aggravated assault.
According to prosecutors, the incident occurred in February 2024. Gotch’s children were reportedly fighting at Westgreen Park, and other kids began “egging them on” and recording the altercation.
Gotch returned to the park and picked up her kids. As she was walking them back to her truck, a boy allegedly “called her a name.” Gotch purportedly pulled the child by his hair. Another boy also “called her a name,” and the defendant “chased him around the park with a stick.”
According to the attorney’s office, Gotch and her children entered the truck, and the second boy stood behind it, “dancing and mocking” the defendant. The second boy allegedly stepped away and went near his sister before Gotch revved her engine and drove toward the boy and his sister.
Prosecutors said the boy jumped out of the way, but Gotch ran over his sister’s leg. Gotch reportedly kept driving through the park. More than a dozen kids were present at the time, with some having to bolt out of the way.
Gotch drove away from the scene, and officials arrested her at her home shortly after.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said, “This could have been a much more tragic situation; thankfully the worst injury in this was a sprained ankle and some bad scrapes and bruises. Even when angry or frustrated, it’s up to adults to act like adults. It is never okay to take our rage out on a kid.”
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