A two-year-old pedaling his tricycle in a cul-de-sac of his gated Florida neighborhood met an unexpected death when a silver Toyota Tacoma driven by an alleged intoxicated driver collided with him, striking and pulling the boy behind.
Krysten and Daniel Lepping “began yelling” at the driver, Joshua Aidan Montero, 19, “to slow down,” according to an arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE. The truck eventually struck the youngster, pulling him several feet, and left a trail of “blood marks” behind him at 7:15 p.m. local time on Monday, September 2.
An Oak Bend neighbor performed CPR on the toddler, identified in the arrest document as Asher Lepping, but he was subsequently pronounced dead at the hospital.
Utah MOM AND THREE YOUNG CHILDREN FOUND DEAD in Car, Police Say No Public Threat
Montero is accused of felony DUI manslaughter, according to his online Lake County Circuit Court record. In a statement to PEOPLE, Detective Courtney Sullivan described the Labor Day incident as “horrific” and “a careless and preventable act.”
“Our agency is deeply saddened by the loss of this precious little boy,” she said, adding, “We hope that justice is served for the little boy’s family.” “Our hearts go out to his family during this difficult time.”
According to the probable cause affidavit, Asher’s mother informed Tavares police officer C. Bannick that “she believed the vehicle’s front tire completely ran over” her son.
Bannick claimed in the statement that while standing near Montero, who was naked and barefoot on the pavement wearing only swimming trunks, “the strong odor of alcohol emitted from him.”
According to the affidavit, the officer said during their talk that the juvenile “admitted to speeding at the time he struck the child.”
According to Bannick, while sitting in the patrol car, the adolescent noticed he was “spinning.”
According to the affidavit, Montero told the officer while driving him to jail that he was drunk, but not “drunk drunk” or “too drunk” to drive.
According to the document, he registered.062 and.057 in two breath tests, both of which were “over the legal limit as Joshua is under the legal age to drink alcohol.”
When questioned if he had been drinking, Montero allegedly told investigators that he had had 15 cans of Michelob Ultra, which he later reduced to three or four cans over four hours at the beach earlier that day, according to the affidavit.
Bannick also stated in the affidavit that the kid acknowledged recreational cocaine use, telling the officer that he had consumed two grams in the previous two days but had not had any that day “due to his girlfriend not allowing him to.”
The officer claimed in the affidavit that during the interview, “Joshua was repeatedly itching/wiping his nose and sniffing,” which “is common with the use of cocaine.”
The adolescent, who is being held without bond by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, declined a public defender and has yet to be given a counsel, according to his online court record. He is scheduled to be arraigned on September 30 at 8:30 a.m.
In a GoFundMe page made by a neighbor of the family, Annie Brown stated that a “precious little boy” was snatched away from his parents and sister “all because a driver chose to show no respect for our quiet gated community and the precious children that live here.”