A Winter Haven mother was arrested after police say she took her teenage daughter to purchase drugs and hit a 15-year-old boy with her car when the drug deal went awry.
Winter Haven Police responded to the scene of a hit-and-run crash on 6th Street SW around 1:37 a.m. on Sunday where a 15-year-old boy was left injured in the middle of the roadway.
According to police, 33-year-old Stephanie Stinson told her 15-year-old daughter that she wanted to purchase marijuana and asked her daughter to set up the transaction. The daughter contacted someone she knew who met them at a laundromat on 6th Street NW in Winter Haven.
Stinson paid $20 for a bag of marijuana and expected change in return, according to a press release. When she didn’t get her change, Stinson attempted to block the vehicle from leaving. Police say that the 15-year-old boy, who was getting inside of the vehicle on the passenger side, was struck when Stinson rammed her blue Dodge Avenger into the vehicle.
The impact launched the boy over the hood of the vehicle where he landed in the roadway. He suffered significant injuries including facial fractures and other broken bones. He was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.
Stinson stopped briefly to pull off a piece of her vehicle that was dragging and both she and her daughter saw the 15-year-old boy injured in the roadway. As they left, Stinson’s daughter called 911, but they did not stay at the scene.
A piece of Stinson’s car was lodged in the silver Chevrolet she had struck and police were able to determine the ownership by the vin number marked on the vehicle part.
Initially, police were unable to locate Stinson’s vehicle; however, her estranged husband called police at 7:06 a.m. to report that he found his vehicle with damage and Stinson had sent him text messages stating she had struck a vehicle and a person earlier.
Sunday morning at 8:09 a.m. Stinson and her daughter reported to the Winter Haven Police Department to give statements to the incident.
Stinson was taken into custody and charged with Leaving the Scene of a Crash Involving Injury and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.