A mother has allegedly driven her car over a teenage boy twice as retribution for bullying and robbing her son.
As reported by Metro, 35-year-old Jennifer Nelson has been accused of driving her vehicle into a Dunkin' Donuts parking lot across from William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, Long Island in an act of vengeance for her son.
According to prosecutors, she confronted teenagers at his school with a knife and a bat, and when a 15-year-old boy walked away from the parking lot, she followed him with her car.
According to an affidavit obtained by the New York Post, Nelson hit the boy and knocked him over, then "proceeded to drive over the victim, up onto a curb, reversed, drove over the victim again".
The publication stated that the boy sustained "numerous bruises and abrasions" and had a punctured lung and fractures to his ribs and pelvis, as shared by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.
The Metro cited that Attorney Raymond Tierney remarked on Monday (February 6) that the mother allegedly thought "she could take the law into her own hands to kill a 15-year-old in the process".
"This defendant’s incredibly misguided attempt to avenge the alleged victimization of her own child is no excuse," he said, per the outlet. "Citizens cannot take the law into their own hands, and should instead work with law enforcement and my office to seek justice in every case."
Reportedly, Nelson tried to switch her 2020 Honda Passport to a different model so that law enforcement wouldn't be able to apprehend her.
However, she has been charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, and leaving an accident scene that resulted in serious physical injury.
The mother's lawyer, Paul D’Emilia, shared an email with The New York Post and said the prosecutor's account of the incident "attempted to conflate two separate events that day as one continuous occurrence".
"A group of males were running through the streets, and one of the young men received injuries after striking Ms. Nelson’s car," the lawyer said, as cited by the outlet. "Ms. Nelson did not see nor recognize the young man who was injured."
D’Emilia stated that his client was "completely taken by surprise" and did not notice the teenager heading toward her car - and said the victim "ran off after the incident".
Nonetheless, Suffolk County prosecutors have requested that the mom be held at $250,000 cash bail or a $1 million bond, but Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei decided to release her without bail.
Nelson is due back in court on March 21.