Sentenced: Ellis Toms Grabbed Steering Wheel, Causing A Drunk Amanda Martinez To Crash Van With Children Aged 1,2,3,5,9,10,11, & 12

[Sugar Cookie]

A man arguing with a drunken woman driving a van carrying eight children grabbed the steering wheel of the vehicle before it crashed on I-43 on Wednesday, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office.

Several of the children, ages 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11 and 12, suffered minor injuries in the crash — reported shortly after 1:30 a.m. on southbound I-43 at Fond du Lac Ave. — and only one was wearing a seat belt, a sheriff's official said.

A witness said the van passed him at a high rate of speed before suddenly veering sharply and crashing into a freeway retaining wall. The witness also heard the 30-year-old woman yelling at the 36-year-old man, asking why he would yank on the steering wheel.
Some of the children said the man had been drinking in the car and arguing with the woman, and one told deputies the kids were screaming for the couple to stop.

When the van entered the freeway the man kept grabbing at the steering wheel until it crashed.

The woman, Amanda Martinez, performed poorly during field sobriety tests and registered a 0.088 blood-alcohol level.

Martinez was arrested for operating while intoxicated with a child younger than 16 in a vehicle, disorderly conduct and seven counts of child neglect. She was also cited for operating without a valid license and operating a vehicle with no insurance. She faces up to six years in prison if convicted.

The man, Ellis Toms, was arrested for second-degree recklessly endangering safety/domestic violence-related, and seven counts of child neglect-party to a crime. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

The children were to be placed with a relative.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news...shing-van-carrying-eight-children/1022652001/

 

[CorpseCandy]

Love the duh-huh expressions! Idiots

 

[trixie05]

And this is why drugs and alcohol shouldn't be mixed!

If she only blew a tiny bit over the limit, but was acting that erratically, she's either got a very low tolerance, or she was on something in addition to the booze!

Either that, or she's not very bright...wait, she gave birth at 18 & 19 & 20 & 21 & 25 & 27 & 28 & 29.....stupid, or religious!

 

[notchback]

Several of the children, ages 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11 and 12,

Sounds like that story the other day where the cops found the kids living in squalor, except there are even more. I wonder where the 4, 6, 7 and 8 year olds are.

 

[FrayedKnot]

 

[CorpseCandy]

I so wish I had a laughing emoticon to give you! Lolololololololol

 

[Sejanus]

They likely sold the missing numbers for booze money.
Gotta say they look like they smell truly horrible

 

[cubby]

stupid, or religious!

I vote stupid.

I wonder where the 4, 6, 7 and 8 year olds are.

Probably forgot them back at the filthy feces covered house with the 42 dogs and 38 cats. The others drew the short straws and had to go out jumping ditches and doging cars with drunk and drunker up there.

 

[FrayedKnot]

I vote stupid.



Probably forgot them back at the filthy feces covered house with the 42 dogs and 38 cats. The others drew the short straws and had to go out jumping ditches and doging cars with drunk and drunker up there.

@cubby --

Jesus!

The feces! I just.....can't!

I totally "get" letting laundry pile up. Or kids' toys all over the place....

Hell, I can even excuse some backlog of dishes while the dishwasher is running (my SIL has four kids...their dishwasher never stops)....

But SHIT???? OMFG? Poo poo on the walls? The carpet?

How does that HAPPEN?

Fuck....

 

[Sugar Cookie]

May 1, 2018

As Amanda Martinez sped down the freeway in January, the eight children in her minivan screamed for her to stop.

Martinez was arguing with the man in the front passenger seat; they had both been drinking.

The children's pleas went unheeded, and as the man grabbed the wheel, Martinez slammed into a retaining wall on I-43. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, even though none but the youngest child, a toddler, was properly restrained in the minivan.

Martinez, 30, and Ellis Toms, 36, were both charged with several crimes, and both are going to prison.

"If we're not going to send a message that we're committed to protecting children, we as the courts risk losing all credibility with the community," Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Kremers said.

He sentenced Martinez to 20 months in prison, followed by three years of extended supervision. He ordered mental health and substance abuse evaluations, and parenting classes.

She had pleaded guilty last month to two misdemeanor counts of child neglect, as party to a crime, and first-offense drunken driving, with minor passengers. Six other counts were dismissed but read in for sentencing.

Toms, 36, the father of four of the children, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree recklessly endangering safety and a misdemeanor count of child neglect. Several other neglect charges were dismissed. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison, plus three years of extended supervision, and ordered to take parenting classes.

Martinez's children, ages 1½ to 12, have been put in foster care. Kremers found it telling that they told investigators the ride wasn't the first time their mother had threatened to kill them all while drunk.

Her attorney, Frederick Klimetz, said the incident began after Martinez returned to the home where she'd been staying with her children around midnight, and the owner said they all had to leave — immediately.

Klimetz said Martinez — who has an old and very minimal criminal history — has already completed a parenting class, a domestic violence workshop and is committed to reuniting her family. He recommended three years of probation.

"She's not the type who needs prison, she needs help," he said.

Kremers said her claims of caring so much for her children ring hollow, given her actions on Jan. 10. "That night it was all about you," he said, and her kids were just so much cargo in the back.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news...-full-children-freeway-gets-prison/569108002/

 

[Ripley]

It makes me so angry to hear the kids were begging her to stop Kids shouldn’t have to be the responsible ones in the family.

 

[Keepalowprofile]

Her attorney, Frederick Klimetz, said the incident began after Martinez returned to the home where she'd been staying with her children around midnight, and the owner said they all had to leave — immediately.

All those kids and homeless too.

 

[Sassedame]

All those kids!

 

[Sugar Cookie]

I hope the children are in a safe place and are allowed regular contact with one another.

Sadly often large sibling sets are not able to be placed together because of accommodations. Another issue is that many times times the oldest sibling will take on the role of parent to the younger siblings and this can disrupt the placement.

The 12year old is definitely in need of therapy and a place where they can be a child.