TORONTO – A pregnant woman who drove a minivan containing her three young children into the ocean off of the Florida coast was arrested Friday and charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder and three counts of child abuse.
A tourist took a video on Tuesday of the rescue as beachgoers teamed up with Volusia County Beach Safety officers to run into the water and carry the children out. Their mother, 32-year-old Ebony Wilkerson, walked out of the van, through the water and back to shore.
While the children were treated in hospital for minor injuries, the eldest child, a 10-year-old girl, told officials their mother took them to the beach “so we could die,” according to a release on the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
The release also said one of the children claimed Wilkerson had “locked the doors, put the windows up and then drove into the surf, saying she was doing it to ‘keep all of us safe.’”
WATCH: Dramatic rescue of a mother and her children from a minivan driven into the ocean on March 4
Wilkerson was taken to the Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach for a mental health evaluation on Tuesday, and released Friday morning prior to her arrest. A family member told sheriff’s investigators that Wilkerson was in an abusive relationship and had left South Carolina for Florida to get away from her husband.
Officials said Wilkerson’s sister called police after she talked about demons before leaving the house, which resulted in Daytona Beach police stopping her vehicle.
“When we spoke with her she was lucid,” Police Chief Mike Chitwood said.
“The children were in the back seat, they were buckled in and were not in distress. Although the sergeant said she looked like she had some mental illness, she did not fit the criteria for going into custody under the Baker Act.”
The Baker Act refers to the Florida Mental Health Act, which allows authorities to involuntarily take people into custody if they appear to be a threat to themselves.
Two hours after the police stop, Wilkerson drove into the ocean.
Wilkerson’s sister told police she was concerned about her sister’s mental state, Chitwood said, adding Wilkerson had gone to Halifax Health Medical Center on Monday to voluntarily check herself in, but walked out after deciding against it.
The children—ages 3, 9 and 10—were turned over to welfare authorities.
With files from The Associated Press
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