Charges Reveal How Minnesota Mom Dropped Toddler on Busy Road in Viral Video

Allen Zhong
1/19/2019
Updated:
1/19/2019

A Minnesota woman has been charged after her 2-year-old daughter tumbled from the back seat of a moving vehicle while still strapped in a car seat. The incident was caught on a dashcam video that went viral.

Maimuna K. Hassan, 40, was charged with child endangerment, failing to properly secure a child restraint, and a misdemeanor driver’s license violation on Thursday, Jan. 17.

Witness Chad Cheddar Mock was driving around a corner on Minnesota street in the morning of Jan. 14, when a car seat holding a toddler fell out of the car in front of him, The Epoch Times reported.

The incident took place at around 11:45 a.m.

Mock is then seen getting out of his car and comes to the child’s aid. (Chad Mock/Storyful)
Mock is then seen getting out of his car and comes to the child’s aid. (Chad Mock/Storyful)

Officials said the child’s mother was driving the vehicle when the incident happened. Hassan was making a turn before her daughter dropped out, and she continued to drive away, apparently unaware of the incident.

Mocks told the Star Tribune that a woman walked back about 20 minutes later to get the toddler. The police were on the scene by then.
Other motorists came to help (Chad Mock/Storyful)
Other motorists came to help (Chad Mock/Storyful)

Mock immediately stopped his vehicle and ran to the child’s aid. Police and paramedics also responded and checked the child for injuries.

The child was properly strapped into the car seat, but the car seat was not fastened to the seat in the vehicle, according to the police.

Hassan told police her daughter must have unlocked the car seat from the passenger seat, according to the Star Tribune.

Court records online do not list an attorney who could speak for Hassan. Her first court appearance is Feb. 14.

According to the court documents obtained by the Star Tribune, the rear door on the left side of Hassan’s door was open before the incident. She had just left a parking lot off Minnesota street before the child in the car seat fell from the open door and landed on the street.

She told police she drove for about five blocks, parked, and walked back to the scene.

Hassan was found driving with only an instructional permit and was ticketed for failing to have another properly licensed adult in the car with her.

The dash camera footage went viral on social media after being uploaded by Mock on Jan. 14. It had been viewed more than 1.3 million times and shared more than 5,500 times as of Jan. 19.

“If it didn’t happen in front of me I’d never have believed it… the child was ok. the parents came back. paramedics and police checked the child out as well. very lucky,” Mock said in the Facebook post.

In a statement on Facebook, the City of Mankato said police officers were dispatched to Minnesota Street.

“At 11:45 a.m. today, police were dispatched to report of a child in the road on Minnesota Street. A two-year-old child had fallen out from the rear driver’s side of the vehicle driven by the child’s mother. The child was examined by public safety and ambulance staff and found not to be injured,” the city stated.

“A motorist with video footage reported the incident to public safety. The child was properly fastened inside the safety seat; however, the child safety seat was not fastened to the vehicle seat. Charges of child endangerment and child restraint system not fastened are being requested,” the city added in the post.

The Associated Press and Jack Phillips from the Epoch Times contributed to this report.
Allen Zhong is a long-time writer and reporter for The Epoch Times. He joined the Epoch Media Group in 2012. His main focus is on U.S. politics. Send him your story ideas: [email protected]
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