A nine-month-old baby boy was killed and his mum and five-year-old sister left in hospital after police say an unlicensed 20-year-old driver ploughed into their pram with a Ford Fusion in a New Jersey supermarket car park.
A baby boy was killed when an ‘unlicensed driver’ ploughed into a mum pushing a pram in a supermarket car park.
The shocking crash left the mother and her five-year-old daughter fighting to recover in hospital. Police say Maria Cobon Guzman, 20, was at the wheel of a Ford Fusion when the car struck the family as they crossed the parking lot outside NPGS grocery store on West County Line Road in Jackson Township, New Jersey, USA at around 11:55am on Friday (August 28).
The mum was pushing her children – her nine‑month‑old son and five‑year‑old daughter – in a baby carriage when the vehicle slammed into them, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
All three were rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. The infant boy was pronounced dead.
The mother and little girl were treated for their injuries and remain hospitalised in stable condition, ABC 7 New York reported. Local community accounts identified the family as mother Golda Chana, her daughter Rochel, and baby boy Yitzchok Rosenberg.
Cobon Guzman, from Trenton, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, operating a motor vehicle without a licence in a fatal crash, and two counts of assault by auto. Investigators said the young woman had never been allowed behind the wheel.
“Investigators learned that the driver of the Fusion, Cobon Guzman, allegedly ‘did not possess, nor had she ever possessed, a valid driver’s license in [New Jersey] or any other state,’” the prosecutor’s office said, according to People. A second woman, Ariadna Lazaro-Flores, 22, from Toms River, has also been charged, News12 reported.
“Continuing investigation further revealed that Lazaro-Flores was aware of that fact, but nevertheless permitted Cobon Guzman to operate the motor vehicle,” the prosecutor’s office alleged. Lazaro-Flores is charged with knowingly engaging in conduct creating a substantial risk of death to another person.
Both suspects are being held at the Ocean County Jail pending detention hearings, authorities said. The investigation remains active, involving local police, vehicular homicide squads and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office.
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