For the past two days I’ve
consistently read reports/ articles about a woman who drove her SUV into the
ocean while her three children where inside and she herself is about seven
months pregnant. My first reactions were of shock and then a little disgusted ‘what
could possibly cause a mother to try and kill her own children?’ ‘Was she
depressed or on some kind of drug that impaired her judgment?’ I soon realized
that I was making excuses for a woman that I knew nothing about and decided to
wait until the case was further developed to make any kind of ‘logical
explanation’. In the reports that I had read and watched the situation had just
taken place and the authorities had not charged anyone, but did take the
children and place them in protective custody, a given regarding the
circumstances.
Ebony Wilkerson, 32 of S.C
drove her SUV into the ocean near Daytona Beach leaving her children, ages 10,
9, and 3 in the back seats of the car to drown. Reports indicate the she drove
the car into the ocean after ranting about demons and her ex-husband coming to ‘get
her and their children’. Wilkerson’s sister also made statements saying that
she notified the authorities of her sister’s remarks, but officers who stopped
her for a ‘wellbeing check’ concluded that outside of the apparent fright she
displayed from her ranting’s she was aware of her surrounding and was therefore
determined to be lucid and able to care for herself and her children. Officers
let Wilkerson go only to hear reports of an incident involving her and her
children a mere two hours later.
While it is unclear
whether or not drug/ alcohol abuse played any roles within the incident,
authorities have determined that her mental capacity is that of the average
person, and because of such she is able and fit to stand trial. Facing three
counts of attempted murder and another slew of charges many question her
motives and her involvement in another car incident which caused another driver
to crash into a barrier, of which she died two weeks later from injuries
sustained.
While many of the preliminary
reports aren’t yet released to the public one is left to wonder if drugs and
mental disease aren’t factors then what else could’ve drove this woman to
commit such acts. I wonder could her pregnancy
be a factor in the actions she illustrated? It is well known that pregnancy can
cause emotional instability and depression, among other things. That coupled
with other situations that she’s been facing daily, could lead to such a
dramatic illustration of a desperate attempt to flee the chaos rising around
her. But in either case I still can’t understand the need to bring the children
along ‘for the ride’. The long term effects that this could possibly have on
those children are mounting as the days go by. While I do understand the need
of the government to make sure she is prosecuted to the proper extent for her
actions, I also believe much more strongly that is the government spent less
time penalizing people for certain actions rather than helping them to solve
their issues, which in this case can begin from abusive relationships to
endangering the welfare of minors and attempted murder by a mentally unstable
person, we would have less people in lock up today for other infractions that
simply needed a different kind of intervention. I’m not trying to down play the
events that took place in any way, the facts still remain that she put the
lives of her children in immediate danger and did so knowingly, but who’s to
say that her intent isn’t real within the realms of her mind? Wilkerson’s
sister maintains that her sister is a victim of spousal abuse and that her
behavior arose from incidents stemming from such events, and officers
conducting the ‘wellbeing check’ also determined she seemed frightened and
wanted to get to a safe place out of the reach of her husband. So the rea
question is what is to be done from here? Should they tear up an already broken
family more or provide ways to mend what has already transpired.
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