Bach
05-12-2005, 12:28 PM
Death-wish mom smashes car into rocks — kids inside
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
STRATFORD, Conn. — A 39-year-old woman who was driving with her two young daughters Wednesday repeatedly rammed her car into boulders in an effort to commit suicide, police and court officials said.
Carmen Melendez, of Bridgeport, had just regained custody of the two girls, ages 1 and 3, who were not seriously injured, the Connecticut Post reported in Thursday’s editions.
Officers responded to reports of a woman deliberately trying to crash her vehicle into breakwater boulders at about 1 a.m. Wednesday near Long Beach, police said. They said they found Melendez standing barefoot outside her 1986 Oldsmobile, which had been smashed into a boulder at the end of the beach.
Bystanders rescued the girls, police said.
Melendez failed field sobriety tests, and a number of medications and two empty alcohol bottles were found in the car, police said.
Both girls were treated at Bridgeport Hospital and released, hospital spokesman John Cappiello said Wednesday. The 3-year-old suffered a forehead laceration, police said.
Melendez appeared in Superior Court later Wednesday and was held on four charges. Prosecutor Nicholas Bove said the state Department of Children and Families had just returned the kids to her custody.
He described the incident as dangerous and hard to believe. Police said DCF was notified of Wednesday’s allegations. Melendez was charged with reckless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and two counts each of risk of injury to a minor and first-degree reckless endangerment. She was held on $25,000 bond and was to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court again next Wednesday.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
STRATFORD, Conn. — A 39-year-old woman who was driving with her two young daughters Wednesday repeatedly rammed her car into boulders in an effort to commit suicide, police and court officials said.
Carmen Melendez, of Bridgeport, had just regained custody of the two girls, ages 1 and 3, who were not seriously injured, the Connecticut Post reported in Thursday’s editions.
Officers responded to reports of a woman deliberately trying to crash her vehicle into breakwater boulders at about 1 a.m. Wednesday near Long Beach, police said. They said they found Melendez standing barefoot outside her 1986 Oldsmobile, which had been smashed into a boulder at the end of the beach.
Bystanders rescued the girls, police said.
Melendez failed field sobriety tests, and a number of medications and two empty alcohol bottles were found in the car, police said.
Both girls were treated at Bridgeport Hospital and released, hospital spokesman John Cappiello said Wednesday. The 3-year-old suffered a forehead laceration, police said.
Melendez appeared in Superior Court later Wednesday and was held on four charges. Prosecutor Nicholas Bove said the state Department of Children and Families had just returned the kids to her custody.
He described the incident as dangerous and hard to believe. Police said DCF was notified of Wednesday’s allegations. Melendez was charged with reckless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and two counts each of risk of injury to a minor and first-degree reckless endangerment. She was held on $25,000 bond and was to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court again next Wednesday.