It was thanks to a tweet from Daniel Pearson, the chief editorial writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer that I saw this story.
Parents are charged after their son, 7, is struck dead in a car accident
Jessica Ivey and Samuele Jenkins were charged two days after their son Legend died from injuries caused by being struck by a Jeep on May 27
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By Curtis Bunn | NBC News • Published June 4, 2025 • Updated on June 4, 2025 at 7:02 pmThe grieving parents of a 7-year-old child who died hours after being hit by a car were charged with involuntary manslaughter after allowing him and his brother, 10, to walk home unaccompanied by an adult from a nearby grocery store.
Jessica Ivey and Samuele Jenkins were charged two days after their son Legend died from injuries caused by being struck by a Jeep on May 27 in Gastonia, a rural town in North Carolina. The 76-year-old driver will not face any charges.
Gastonia may be described as “a rural town,” but it isn’t a tiny hamlet. The 2020 Census put the population at 80,411, and, with a rapidly growing Hispanic population — from 9.62% in 2010 to 12.65% in 2020 — who knows how many Hispanic immigrants chose to evade the census as President Trump wanted illegal immigrants to be identified but not counted as part of the population for congressional representation. The Census Bureau guesstimated the population to have increased to 85,535 as of July 1, 2024.
As I noted in my tweeted response to Mr Pearson, I walked a long way to and from school, including along the railroad tracks for part of the distance, from the 4th through 6th grades, but Mt Sterling, Kentucky, where I grew up, showed a population of just 5,370 in the 1960 census, which had declined to 5,083 by 1970.
I don’t know if my mother knew I took the railroad tracks!
Down by the old lumber company off of Richmond Avenue, along the tracks, until I could walk up to the viaduct over the tracks onto South Bank Street, then right on Main Street, and left on North Maysville Street, all the way up to the now-gone Mt Sterling Elementary School.
Yes, I still remember those days.
The Food Lion store is two blocks away from their home. The parents said the children were with their mother when they asked to meet their father at the store, and she allowed them to leave, according to the Gaston Gazette. The brothers had to cross the busy, four-lane road, but attempted to go between crosswalks.
Two blocks.
My daughters walked three blocks from our home on Beach Road, a reasonably busy street, if nevertheless only two lanes, in Hampton, Virginia to Francis Asbury Elementary School, through my older daughter’s 5th grade year. At that point, we put them in parochial school, as the Hampton middle schools were disasters. This was the 1990s.
Witnesses told WSOC-TV Gastonia that Legend stepped into traffic as his older brother attempted to hold him back.
Jenkins said he was on the phone with his elder son when the younger child was hit.
“I heard my oldest son yell, ‘Legend, no!’ so I hung up and ran. I just ran to find them,” he told the local television station.
Two days later, Gastonia police arrested the parents, who are being held on $1.5 million bond.
“In such cases, adults must be held accountable for their responsibilities to ensure a safe environment for their children,” police said in a statement.
Perhaps a “safe environment for their children” would include the city not having busy, 45 MPH speed limit, four-lane roads in residential areas? Perhaps the city is at least partially at fault for not creating a “safe environment for children”?
Yup, that image to the left is a speed limit sign, via Google Maps, on West Hudson Boulevard, the street the boys were attempting to cross.
This is a tragedy, but it is one being compounded by the government. $1.5 million dollars bond, for two parents who have just lost their younger son.