HOUSTON (Video from KTRK via CNN) – A 26-year-old Houston woman who was driving an SUV toward her children in an apparent game of “chicken” struck and killed her 3-year-old son, according to authorities.
Lexus Stagg told police she accidentally backed over her son around 7 p.m. June 11 at her apartment complex. The boy, whose name was not released, died at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital that night.
Stagg said that she was driving her 2006 Lincoln Navigator in reverse when she hit her son, whom she initially thought was a speed bump, according to prosecutors.
They said surveillance video from the apartment complex shows Stagg getting into a Lincoln Navigator and then backing up. As her three young children began running after her, she drove the SUV forward. Two children moved out of the way, but the 3-year-old was caught under a tire.
She then drove forward and ran over the boy again with the rear-right tire, prosecutors said.
“You should be playing peek-a-boo with a 3-year-old instead of forcing him to try and dodge a 5,600-pound deadly weapon,” Harris County District Attorney’s Office Vehicular Crimes Chief Sean Teare said.
Stagg was arrested Thursday on a third-degree felony charge of criminally negligent homicide charge. She was released Friday after posting bond.
If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
