Louisiana Mom Crashes Car With 11 Children Inside, Is Charged With Cruelty

A mom is facing child cruelty charges after a horrifying crash that resulted in her SUV repeatedly flipping over—with her 11 children packed inside.

One of the youngsters was thrown from the vehicle and had to be flown by air ambulance to hospital. That was where mom Leticia Brothers was given a summons by police following the incident in Louisiana.

She and all of her children—aged 4 to 16—were injured during the accident on Sullivan Road near Huntley Avenue, Baton Rouge, just before 10 p.m. on Sunday. All are expected to survive.

Police described their shock at what they found as they arrived at the scene. Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran told WBRZ: "It's a terrible accident. I mean, a vehicle flipped over and you have children laying everywhere. It's a terrible thing to pull up on."

Assistant Fire Chief Derek Glover of the Central Fire Department added that when his crews arrived: "They found multiple patients—more patients than firefighters we had on scene." Officers were forced to call for two more fire engines and more paramedic units.

Police believe none of the children were wearing seatbelts, and said Brothers, 34, was driving without insurance and under a suspended license. She was arrested on several charges including 11 counts of cruelty to juveniles and careless operation.

Corcoran told local newspaper The Advocate: "We're lucky there wasn't a fatality of a child...Two of the children were sitting in front, one was in the passenger seat behind the driver, four were in the next seat and four were in the hatchback, which didn't have a window, just plastic,"

Footage filmed by WBRZ after the crash showed the crumpled white SUV on its side, with its windshield smashed. Debris litters the surrounding area, including broken rearview mirrors and a child's single sandal.

"The vehicle didn't even have a back glass in it, it just had a plastic bag over that back window," Corcoran said. "And after the wreck, that's how they escaped from the vehicle, through knocking that plastic bag out and trying to climb out."

It has emerged that Brothers, of Baton Rouge, has been arrested for cruelty to juveniles before.

Back in 2015, she was charged with cruelty to juveniles, domestic abuse, criminal neglect of family and encouragement of child delinquency. Arrest reports from the time state that her then nine children all sleeping together on the floor in one room. The house had no beds.

She was jailed at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison in 2016 and released later that year.

Brothers faces 11 counts of cruelty to a juvenile, 11 counts of child not restrained, careless operation and no car insurance. Corcoran said Brothers had no driver's license, so she also faces a count of "suspended Class P driver's license."

Newsweek has reached out to Central Police and Central Fire Department for further information.