An Iowa woman has been charged with attempted murder after running over a teenage girl because she was "a Mexican" police said, according to CNN.
According to a press release shared by the Clive City Police Department, Police Chief Michael Venema said that the 14-year-old had been making her way to a basketball game on December 9 when Nicole Marie Poole Franklin, 42, hit her with her car and left the scene without stopping to help the young girl.
The press release states that the girl had been walking to Indian Hills Junior High when a vehicle hit into her while she was on the sidewalk, On Thursday, Poole Franklin admitted to Clive police that she had indeed struck the girl with her vehicle.
Learn more about the shocking murder attempt on the life of a 14-year-old girl:"I don't remember the impact, I just remember the car coming toward me," the girl, whose name is not known, told CNN affiliate KCCI-TV. She added that she had been going to a basketball game. "I didn't do anything, I'm just a girl just walking to a basketball game."
It is believed that the teenager was able to return to school a week following the incident, according to CNN affiliate WOI-TV.
In her interview with detectives, Poole Franklin admitted to being the driver involved in the incident and said she had intentionally hit the girl because she "was a Mexican," police said. Poole Franklin then "made a series of derogatory statements about Latinos".
“I want to say, in the strongest terms possible, that there is no place in our community (or any other) for this type of hatred and violence," the Police Chief wrote in a statement.
Franklin is currently being detained at Polk County Jail on a bond of $1 million. She is also facing charges of theft, violation of individual rights, consumption/intoxication, and possession of marijuana.