Erika Martinez-Ramirez (McLennan County District Attorney).
A Texas woman is headed to prison after she handed her car keys over to her intoxicated 14-year-old son who then struck and killed a 67-year-old bicyclist.
Erika Martinez-Ramirez was convicted Tuesday of endangering a child and sentenced to two years in prison, according to the McLennan County District Attorney”s Office. Prosecutors said the incident occurred on July 14, 2024, in Bellmead, which is just outside of Waco. Around 1:30 a.m., Martinez-Ramirez gave her son her keys and told him to take his 10-year-old sister to pick up some clothes at a nearby house.
The boy was driving when he slammed into a bicyclist, identified by local CBS affiliate KWTX as Dennis Welch. The boy then crashed into a house. Welch died at the scene. The 10-year-old girl suffered minor injuries.
According to prosecutors, it wasn’t the first time the 14-year-old — who was too young to have a license — was busted for driving. The first occurred on Dec. 12, 2023, when an officer stopped the boy, who was driving with several other kids in his mom’s car. Officers cited Martinez-Ramirez for allowing her son to drive.
Two weeks later, the boy was once again behind the wheel when he struck another car and fled the scene. Cops contacted Martinez-Ramirez and “repeated to her that allowing her son to drive was unacceptable,” prosecutors said.
Authorities declined to provide details about the 14-year-old’s prosecution because of his age. Prosecutors said they didn’t charge Martinez-Ramirez with manslaughter because they didn’t have evidence that showed she knew her son was intoxicated at the time of the crash. She was originally facing a criminally negligent homicide charge but they opted to prosecute her on the endangering a child count because both charges carry the same punishment and the endangering charge is easier to prove, the district attorney said.
The case was prosecuted by assistant district attorneys Michaelina Yearty and Duncan Widmann.
“Parents are rarely prosecuted for crimes committed by their children, but this mother’s actions were so irresponsible and so frequent that both prosecution and a maximum sentence were warranted,” they said in a statement.
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