A mother in Texas has been arrested and is facing multiple felonies after she allegedly stabbed her husband before packing her three children into the car — all of whom are under the age of 13 — and intentionally driving the vehicle into a lake.
Wei Fen Ong was taken into custody on Friday and charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of aggravated assault on a family member resulting in serious bodily injury, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a news release from the Carrollton Texas Police Department, officers and fire personnel responded to an emergency domestic violence incident at about 7:48 a.m. on Friday involving a man stabbed with a knife at a residence in the 4400 block of Tall Knight Lane in Carrollton, north of Dallas.
Wei Fen Ong (Carrollton Texas Police Department) and the tire tracks left from where Ong allegedly drove into the lake with her three kids in the car (KDFW screenshot)
The stabbing victim, who was not identified by law enforcement, was the person who placed the 911 call and told the dispatcher his wife had stabbed him.
Once there, first responders found the victim and took him to a hospital for treatment. He was expected to survive the attack, police said.
While police were responding to the reported stabbing, officers with the Lewisville Police Department were simultaneously responding to a separate 911 call regarding a related incident. A woman — Ong — allegedly drove a vehicle into a lake near the 900 block of Hebron Parkway in Lewisville. In addition to Ong, authorities said there were three children — ages 8, 9, and 12 — in the vehicle when it plunged into the lake. Lewisville is about 25 miles northwest of Dallas.
Once there, authorities got all four occupants out of the vehicle and took them to a hospital. Ong was later taken into custody.
Lewisville police told
Fort Worth, Texas, NBC affiliate KXAS reported that the oldest of the three children freed himself from the vehicle when first responders arrived at the lake. A second child was pulled from the vehicle unconscious, but officers immediately began performing lifesaving measures and were able to revive the child.
Fire personnel rescued the third child from the car. The unconscious child was revived while en route to the hospital.
The older child and Ong received minor treatment at a hospital. The children who lost consciousness were taken to a hospital in Plano, Texas, KXAS reported. Police said that two of the three children are in stable condition while one of them remains in critical condition, though which child that is remains unclear.
Wallace Rose, who had been fishing in the area before the car went into the water, told KXAS he initially believed what he’d seen was an accident.
“I saw what I thought was an accident, but it turned out, I guess, a little bit more than an accident,” he said. “I’m not really religious, but if I was, I’d pray for the family. I hope that they are OK.”
Police have not speculated as to a potential motive for the stabbing and apparent attempted drownings.
Ong is being held on $1.8 million bond, jail records show.
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