Mom Sentenced for Accidentally Running Over Daughter While Pretending to Abandon Kids: Police

After initially pleading not guilty, per CBS affiliate WYMT, Jasmine White, 27, accepted a plea deal in January 2025.

She was sentenced to nine years in prison with work release, but five of those years were suspended, according to the St. Joseph Prosecutor's Office. She will face two years of probation following her release.

White was charged in September 2024 with one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury, and one count of neglect of a dependent placing the dependent in a dangerous situation after police allege she ran over her daughter, as reported by NBC affiliate WNDU.

Police arrived on the scene at approximately 5:48 p.m., on August 29, 2024, according to court documents shared by WSBT. Upon arrival, they reported finding the eight-year-old girl "bleeding severely near the entrance to the parking lot." She was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Doctors diagnosed the eight-year-old with "skull and orbital fractures, the loss of five teeth, various abrasions, and a large facial laceration that had exposed a portion of the front of her skull," per the filing.

Witnesses told the police the girl and four of her siblings were running alongside White's vehicle at an apartment complex on August 29, 2024, as part of a game she reportedly played with them all the time where she'd pretend to abandon them.

In the game, as allegedly detailed to police by White's six-year--old daughter and her siblings, per Fox affiliate WLBT, she would race her children to the car, get inside and lock the doors, pretending she was going to leave them behind.

The six-year-old also stated that she and her siblings, aged four to nine years old, "don't like the game, and are afraid they will get stranded."

According to the six-year-old, per police, White was driving faster than usual this time when her older sister's foot got caught under a tire. She said her sister was holding on to the door handle when she went down, hitting her head hard. Police reported her "face hitting the pavement, causing the most severe injuries."

Doctors were able to stabilize the girl and she was released after several days of intubation and IV sedation.

After reviewing surveillance footage of the incident provided by the apartment complex manager at the time of the accident, investigators estimated that White had increased her speed to approximately 15-20 mph when the child fell, per WNDU.