The parents of a young boy who was killed by a car while crossing the street without adult supervision have accepted plea deals that dismissed their initial charges connected to their son’s death and reduced their punishments.
Jessica Ivey and Samuele Jenkins were initially charged with involuntary manslaughter and child neglect after their 7-year-old son, Legend, was struck and killed by a car on May 27 in Gastonia, North Carolina.
Authorities say the parents let Legend and his 10-year-old brother walk home alone from a Subway restaurant. Ivey was at a neighboring Food Lion and gave them permission to walk home, which was two blocks away. Prosecutors said Jenkins had given the two permission to go to the Subway. When the boys tried crossing a busy street outside of the crosswalk, the younger one was hit by an SUV.
The 76-year-old driver who struck the child was not charged.
Ivey and Jenkins were booked into jail two days after the boy’s death. Their bond was initially set at $1.5 million, but it was later reduced to $150,000.
Their story drew national attention and prompted intense debate over whether the parents are to blame and if their case amounted to negligence. Numerous comments were left on the Gastonia Police Department’s Facebook page. Some people believed authorities went too far by charging the parents, arguing there’s no wrongdoing in allowing children to walk near their homes unsupervised when they did the same thing as kids. Some people blamed the city, stating that the road young Legend crossed was dangerous and needs speed bumps and other traffic measures to ensure pedestrian safety.
In a jailhouse interview, both parents said their arrests were sudden and gave them no time to grieve the loss of their son.
“I’m suffering in my sleep — when I can sleep. I dream about Legend. I wake up, and I’m in here. It’s been about three weeks, and I still have not gotten to really mourn,” Jenkins said. “I have not grieved. You’d think they’d at least wait until after we buried our child,” Jenkins said.
“It’s always been my worst fear to lose all my children, and now I lost my baby, and then I got thrown right in jail,” Ivey said. “It’s real hard. We haven’t gotten to experience life without him, not really, being in here. I miss him, I miss my husband, I miss my other children.”
Both parents were offered plea bargains.
Jenkins pleaded guilty to felony child abuse with serious injury. He was sentenced to 19-32 months in jail, but it was suspended, according to WBTV. He’ll have to spend 36 months under supervised probation.
Ivey pleaded guilty to negligent child abuse and will have to serve supervised probation for 30 months. Her jail sentence of 10 to 21 months was suspended.
Parents must pay court and attorney fees and take parenting classes as part of their plea bargains.
In court, defense attorneys noted that neither parent has been able to properly mourn Legend while in jail. The couple has been together for 10 years, married for one, and have six remaining children together. Ivey is currently pregnant with another child.
The district attorney stated that in the face of such a tragic death, the parents need mercy and a community to support them in this tough time.
“My heart is broken for a young boy that will grow up without a brother, a motorist that will never forget the sounds and images of a horrible accident, and, candidly, for parents dealing with the unimaginable loss of a son,” District Attorney Travis Page said, per WCNC. “There is no prison or punishment worse than a parent living with the knowledge their decision-making and their actions caused the harm of their own child. These parents do not deserve prison — they need mercy, they need grace, and they need a community to support them and other struggling parents in hopes that a tragedy such as this will never happen again.”
