Cops: Mom runs over son
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/02/25/art.crime.mom.runover.son.jpg caption="Sandra Renia Joseph was charged with first-degree murder."]
Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer
There are cases that shock even the toughest of cops. The crimes that make hardened detectives sick to their stomachs. This is one of them.
A mother in Louisiana is accused of killing her own child. Investigators say the murder weapon was an SUV. And published reports describe the suspect as a former police officer.
The incident occurred Saturday morning. At around 9:15am on February 21, a call came into the Saint Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office. A woman said she was walking along a rural road when she noticed a silver Suzuki SUV with extensive front damage. She said the driver told her to contact the police because she had just run over her son.
When the authorities arrived at the scene, they say the driver said the same thing to them – that she had run over her son. They also allege she directed them to his body. The victim was found next to a barn near the road. Samuel Utomeh was 11-years-old.
According to the police, there were multiple points of impact that caused severe blunt force trauma to the child. His mother, Sandra Renia Joseph, was charged with first-degree murder. The 49-year-old is being held without bond.
The Daily World newspaper says Joseph was a Lafayette Police Officer from 1985 until 1990. According to the paper, she now works at the Louisiana Department of Social Services, which is in the process of suspending her until the case is closed.
The story has stunned many in the community, among them, Jimmy Darbonne. The Public Information Officer for the Saint Landry Sheriff’s Office says he’s worked in law enforcement for years, but has never seen anything like this before.
|
|
Filed under: Crime & Punishment • Gabe Falcon |
About this Show:
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°
Subscribe to the podcast
On Twitter
Search the AC360 blog
That's a terrible story... Just another sister getting government housing... If you don't want kids, go against God and have an abortion or give them up for adoption... Parents are the main problem in society today, in all communities and in all races...
Hey Cee Bee, its not Revelations, its Revelation (no "s"), and its been the end times for a long timen now.
[According to the police, there were multiple points of impact that caused severe blunt force trauma to the child. His mother, Sandra Renia Joseph, was charged with first-degree murder.]
Multiple points of impact and the charge tell me that they believe she did so on purpose. Perhaps not pre-meditated (that isn't clear) but they believe she did to the point of filing the 1st Degree charge. The story doesn't state if she confessed to doing so on purpose, but she confessed to running over her son.
As for simply putting her into prison for the rest of her life, we're all going to be paying for that, which if it is like most prisons, has similarities to a resort.
Did she have more children? Was she a single mother? There's lots of places where prayers and sympathies could and should be placed.
what a horrible story.
what's even worse is that you are all arguing amongst yourselves about something you can't control in the end.
Let's all just agree that this is awful, and make an effort to perform a random act of kindness today in his honor.
I agree with Gail
She needs to be put to death
Come on people, lets all recognise that moral values are properly founded on human nature and experience alone and that the ams of morality should be human welfare, happiness and fulfillment. Our decisions are based on the available evidence and our assessment of the outcomes of our actions, not on any dogma or sacred text.
Lets just expect her to take responsibility for her actions.
Mob mentality, dogmatic judgements, and knee jerk reactions scare me just as much as murderers.