A Florida father has been arrested after running over and killing his eight-month-old child, whom he allegedly placed in the middle of a busy intersection.
20-year-old Justin Golden was driving in the intersection of Lenox and McDuff avenues in Jacksonville at around 11 am on Saturday when he reportedly got into an argument with the child’s mother.
‘The driver stopped the vehicle at the intersection, opened the door and placed the child on the ground,’ the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office claimed.
‘The driver then began to leave the area and the vehicle struck the child.’
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After the incident unfolded, Golden began to flee the scene yet was soon apprehended by police, who then took him into custody.
Meanwhile, the baby was rushed to the hospital but was later pronounced dead by doctors due to the severity of the accident.
A father of twins named Markin Barnes witnessed the tragedy and said he just did not see that coming.
He revealed he was working at his barbershop close to the area of the incident when he heard screams from a woman and it led him to quickly run outside.
‘The kid was bleeding, so we immediately asked did she need help,’ he recounted, stating that the driver had already fled the scene by the time he got outside.
Barnes added that the sight he witnessed in the image of the woman holding the bleeding baby is one he will hardly forget.
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‘Now that I’m finding out the details, it’s even worse,’ he told First Coast News. ‘Just the screaming, the people consoling her, you could tell it really was tragic.
‘Especially with a kid being that young,’ he said. ‘It hits home – anything dealing with the kids and you we take very seriously.’
Officers of Jacksonville continue the investigations into the incident but are yet to clarify whether Golden ran over his baby on purpose.
‘We, with our partners at the State Attorneys’ Office will stop at nothing to get justice for the baby,’ the sheriff’s office said.
The Florida father is now facing charges of aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide and failing to render aid. He is held behind bars at Duval County Jail without bond.