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Justin Golden, a 20-year-old Florida man, has been accused of leaving an 8-month-old baby “in the roadway” before running over the child.
According to PEOPLE, officers from the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office arrived at “the intersection of Lenox Avenue and McDuff Avenue” around 10:39 a.m. on January 25. At the time, authorities reportedly responded to an alert about a “crash involving a single vehicle and a child.”
Per a press release obtained by the outlet, when officers arrived, they reportedly found “what appeared to be an infant in the roadway.” Furthermore, witnesses at the scene alleged the child was struck by a runaway vehicle.
“Members of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department arrived and transported the child to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased,” the release reportedly asserted, per PEOPLE.
Additionally, officers identified Golden as the driver of the car. In a Facebook post shared by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, cops asserted that Golden had been “driving with a female passenger and the 8-month-old baby.” Then, he and the passenger “got into an argument.”
“Golden took the baby out of the car before leaving the scene, hitting the baby with the car,” the Facebook post reads in part.
Per the Facebook post, Golden was “quickly taken into custody.” Additionally, the department asserted that the 20-year-old has now been charged with “aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide.”
“The investigation continues. We, with our partners at the State Attorneys Office, will stop at nothing to get justice for the baby,” the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s post concludes.
Per PEOPLE, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office has not confirmed how Golden, his female passenger, and the infant are related. However, Law & Crime reports that Golden’s passenger was his girlfriend, and he was the father of the infant.
Furthermore, the outlet reports that it remains unclear whether Golden ran over the child intentionally.
Justin Golden isn’t the only adult to make recent headlines for their alleged actions. As The Shade Room previously reported, earlier this month, a mother in New Mexico pleaded guilty to committing murder. Additionally, the mother reportedly confessed to initially letting her teenage son be placed behind bars for her alleged actions.
