Where's my son? He's in the front seat of that car. How? He fell out your car. Who was driving? My brother. Have y'all been smoking? Yeah, I was smoking one. You were in the car with them in the back. How do you not realize that the door opens and one of the kids fly out? On August 15th, 2021, a 4-year-old tumbled out of a moving car in Palm Coast, Florida, and the vehicle kept going. Moments later, deputies arrived to a chaotic scene. The child was bleeding. The mother was asleep and the driver admitted to smoking weed with four kids in the back seat. What began as a routine drive turned into a disturbing investigation captured entirely on body cam. Hey sir, that's coming so quick. I've never seen anything like that. The silver car, best I can tell, it's silver. Pulls around and I see the damn doors open and this kid comes rolling out of it. He falls out of the car. He just came falling out of it. Slide rolls all the way over and the car took off and the car just kept going. Which way did it go? Silver SUV pickup. Just a caravan. A car. Just a car. Is a car like like yours? Yeah. Uh, no. Like a car. Car like a regular, you know, sedan. Alpha 216 Flagler. Go ahead. I'm out with the caller. You guys, I have a Bravo Mike Juvenile, 3-year-old who fell out of a silver unknown maker model vehicle that continued westbound on 100. That's all I have. Did it hit another car or No, nothing like that. 105. You mind if I make all of my work? Yeah, please do. Older model. Newer model. Anything except the stickers on it? Older model. It didn't look new by any means. Like I said, I drove Alpha 215. He was riding older model. We didn't get a good look at the vehicle. It wasn't a new car. A new car. The problem is I was just I saw him. I was in disbelief and I just I'm in disbelief right now. Yeah. Hey, are you all right, pal? He's got he's got a little cut. Let me see, buddy. Thank you. He's got a little cut on his finger. Hey, do you know your name, big guy? Right here. Can you tell us your name? You know your name, bud? You can tell us. What's your name? Chu. Okay. Had a hard time telling me about anything. Um, sorry. Let me get her. So, so the you come out the front seat or the back seat? Back seat, back, right, back. So, the car came off Old King's Road, right? He he or she made a U-turn. White car is right there. I'm sitting first one in line over there. And I I thought it was a dent in the door that was open and he folded the back and he just signal says he may have. And I just I just looked at him. Like I said, I just silver car is all I can think of. Yeah. Yeah. And I just got I kind of Did the door close when it kept going or did you just No, it was it was still open. High rate. Was it reckless high rate of speed or just It wasn't like it was out of control. It wasn't like it was burning tires or anything. Yeah. Um I don't know. I even tried to ask anybody know that you were out of the car. That's what I'm wondering. They don't know he fell out. Yeah. Were you riding with your mom? Were you riding with your mommy? Was daddy with you too? Just mom? Okay. Okay. Do you have your ID on you, sir? Just for my report. No problem. We're not going to get them. There was no signal for the reporting party's advising. The silver vehicle made a Uturn at Old King's Road and the child fell the back seat. I might possibly have the vehicle pulling up right now. Where's my son? He's in the front seat of that car. How? He fell out your car. How he fell out my car? Copy tag for the parents just showed up. Matt, how did he fall? You tell you tell me that. Was he buckled in? He was sleeping. Where was your son at? I was sleeping. He was on this side. Who was driving? My brother. He said he he he said he heard the door open, but he didn't he didn't think this vehicle register showing cancel. Everybody have their IDs out. Their ID is ready. He's in the front seat of the car if you want to go get them from this gentleman. All right. You want to come get him out of this man's car? Is he okay? He's got a little cut on his finger. He's okay. When did y'all realize he wasn't in the car? Right now. Like right now. We got on to the expressway and my daughter was like, "Whereby what? Why you It's not just Don't Don't yell at him. He's I know. You want You want to pick him up? He's scared and his hand hurts." Okay, let me just uh He had He had a scratch going down. So, this gentleman says the silver car makes the U-turn. Has to make a U-turn. Back door opens up. He falls out. Car continues westbound. I don't know. She says she gets on the interstate, realizing in the back seat. She was sleeping. Brother was driving. They returned to the scene. Um, he's got a small cut on his finger. I'm going to get you out of here right now. Get your information. I'll get you out of here. I've already called her. They know. Okay. Um, what do you need? You were just traveling this way. You said I was on my way to work and I was at the stoplight. So, all right. I appreciate, man. Carol wanted the way I Do you have your your ID? You don't have anything? Can I get your name? He just got my name. He got your name? Yeah. All right. Have y'all been smoking? Yeah, I just smoked one joint. When like coming like 20 minutes ago 20 minutes ago and you're driving four kids in the back seat. I had windows down. You had your windows down? Were you smoking in the car? Yeah. You were smoking in the car with them in the back window. Do you have any more weed in the car? Can you step out for me so we can talk over here? No, if there's four. I mean, I just got this car. I used to have a big van, but I So, you're saying if I if I just get this car and I'm going to sit four kids in the back seat, I'm going to make sure there's four seat belts. So, did you check seat belts in the car? I have six kids. What do you I know, but I understand that. This what I was I didn't think that my son would ever do something like that. a little not locked on now. Do me a favor, sweetie. Can you try to open this door while I close it? Go ahead and try to open it. They're on now. They're on now. They weren't on before. That corner there. So, we're going to be dain for now. Okay. While we investigate what's going on, can you put your hands behind your back? So, you're not under arrest. So, you said you were smoking in the car with them in there? Yeah. Is there any more we car at all? Like probably a joint. The joint? Where would that joint be at? Like in the car? Was it Is it in the Swissers wrapper in the No. car like a pack. In a pack. All right. Do you have medical marijuana cards? Oh, yeah. You have a medical marijuana card. So my question is is how do you not realize that the door opens and one of the kids fly out and then we get on 95? Cuz I I ain't here. You hear the door open and shut. I kind of did heard something that was like and see a kid fall out of the car. Kind of did heard something. Has a seat belt on. Right. So if there's four kids in the back of that car and three seat belts, how does everyone have a seat belt on? Oh, they didn't have seat belts on, did they? None of them had seat belts on. I think they they did. So, my question is is if there's three seat belts and there's four kids, how do you get three seat belts on four kids? It It's impossible. There's There's no way to put three seat belts on four kids. That means one kid didn't have a seat belt on. And obviously, the kid that didn't have a seat belt on is the one that flew out the car and hit the road. Right. Where do you guys live at? I live in Miami. You live in Miami? What are you doing over here? You're going to South Carolina. All right. I was driving for my sister. All right. This time you're all right. We'll talk to you in a little bit. Okay. What? Why? You're insane right now. only stuff that strong or marijuana coming out of his car. Marijuana. Yeah, I mean just answering his question real quick. This is all I need from you is just saying that you don't two things going on. One, how old are the kids in the back seat? What age range are they from? My daughter is nine. My other daughter is seven. Okay. My son is pay and Julie's four. All right. So, the four-year-old should be in a car seat. According to Florida law, all children aged five and younger must be restrained by a fedally approved crash test child restraint device. This includes a booster seat, car seat, or any other manufactured integrated child seat. So, two of them are in car seats. Okay. Second thing, four kids in the back seat, only three seat belts available for them. That's a problem. And the third thing is we all can smell the marijuana coming out of the car, including the paramedics and fire. So, we're looking at those three things right now. So, hang tight while we can finish doing what we're doing. Is there is there any marijuana in this car? Did you know? All right. Well, you can check with or without your permission. Just the smell of marijuana alone give us the right to check your car. So, that's what deputy where where are we? I don't even know. You're in Palm Coast, Florida. Probably about half hour north of Daytona. one unlike it. Usually what they do is cuz all that stuff inside right there they're uh pulled off all this back and they've rerolled it. Yeah. With Yeah. So I would collect those roaches and stuff and just put them in that right there cuz even if we don't make an arrest, we're going to put in for destruction. Namaste. Who cares? I just got it from my friend. I gave her like little by little. Um, put it on the roof right now. Watch out for needles and stuff like that. We're going to stop. What made the guy stop here? Cuz he got off the exit. I don't know. I don't even know what made him do that. All right. What's your Let's start off with the oldest to the youngest. How? What's the name? [Applause] We is not um legal here. Say that one more time. Like we is not um illegal or whatever legal here. talking about here in Flagger County or here in the state of Florida. State of Florida, I guess. Yeah. I mean, you have to have like if you're going to possess uh marijuana, you're going to have to have the marijuana card. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, until it gets like legalized and all that, you have to have that in your possession if you have if you have it. So, I mean, if you if you like some people use it for uh medicinal purposes. So, you go to those doctors, they give you that card. It's almost like a card like this, but you know, it says you could have it. And so, how so let's say if he has whatever, if they find a little bit of like as long as he has that card and it's valid and it's uh up to date and it's current and all that stuff, he has that right amount. It has to be a certain amount for you to take somebody to jail. Yeah. But if he has that like that card, it say but he has to carry that right amount. He can't go over or whatever like that. So once you once you get that car, you know all the it's like having a driver's license. You know all what you can and what you can't do. So he just picked you up and y'all was heading um where is it? South Carolina. Yes. Where'd he pick you up from? Miami. Yeah, that's my medication that you just grabbed. I have anxieties. Said those are yours? Yeah, they're not in the prescription bottle. I only took a couple with me. They got to be in the bottle. So, would that mean I'mma lose my medication? I mean, it's up to the investigating deputy, but it's a couple of things. When you have medication, even though it's yours, it's prescribed to you, you know, it's can't have it. Let's say if you going out of like you say, you're going out of town, you need it, it's you can't have it outside of that prescription bottle. A, we can't identify that's actually yours or his or whoever's, you know, and B, you know, it's not properly labeled. You know what I'm saying? So, you can say it's yours all day, but we don't know. And then if it's yours, it has to be in the prescription bottle with your name and all that stuff, you know. Yeah, I know. That happened to me before. They took my They took all my medications. What you use that one for? What kind What medication was that? It's for my anxieties. Freaking what is the problem? I mean we you got to understand our position is like you know somebody call say a three-year-old for fall off the car and they fall off the car one thing then you guys come back my brother must have been playing music or something that he couldn't hear I don't know until my daughter said something he was like right there like I know he hasn't been here for long he was right there on the e-way trying to back around. I'm just happy that he's alive, but I I still feel like like why are they going to like try to take my brother to jail? Like like he don't we don't even live here. Like he stay with you downtown. Yeah. All right. So I'm going to read you your rights first. Okay. So the right to remain silent anything you say. maybe as evidence against you. We're going to go back to the beginning of what happened. So, where were you guys coming from? I'm coming from Miami, Florida. I was coming to South Carolina for him to see his dad. Going where? South Carolina. South Carolina. Okay. For him to see his dad. And I was sleeping in the car. Um passenger passenger. Sorry. And um all I heard what woke me up was when my daughter said, "Where is um Chris Jubie?" They thought that he got out of the gas station and went into the bathroom without us without my brother knowing it. Okay. Cuz my brother went into the to pump gas, I guess, and he went into the store. Okay. But that's not what happened. He didn't even notice that my son fell out the car right here. Like I didn't even like until when we went to this gas station which you were sleeping here. I was sleeping. Okay. And did you guys leave Miami today or how long have you We left today. Today. Okay. and you go shopping here for gas. So, you said you were sleeping and then driving up there, your uh daughter woke you up. Yes, my daughter my daughter woke me up because all I heard heard her say that, you know, of course I'm going to get up from something like that. And then that's when I went crazy and I and he was like right there on the e-way. So, we had to hurry up and turn around to get off and come back to the same gas station that he said he my brother said he was at. So, you guys already on 95? So, you went up to the next next turn around and then turn around. pills I found in the glove box. Yeah, those are my anxiety pills. Okay. Are those Do you have a prescription? I don't have it in my um bottle. No, I don't have my prescription. You have a prescription for in particular? Um they give me um some type of pills like that's for like that. Has that doctor prescribed to you? That's what we're asking. Um cuz we we can check that. We can go on the record. We can check that. So he hasn't prescribed you any but they they prescribe me with pills that are like in the family in the family but he hasn't prescribed you those those pills. Where did you get those? I have bad anxiety pill. Where did you get those pills from? My friend gave them to me. Your friend gave you those pills? Yeah. Like it's my anxieties that I have. Does your friend have a prescription for the pills? Is it his prescription? Probably. He probably had a prescription. Probably. Okay. cuz my sister passed away and um not too long ago. So I I'm dealing with like anxieties and stuff. So I would have to take That's what I'm saying. Well, if if you got anxiety, that's when you go to the doctor and the doctor and stuff, but getting it from you see the bottles right there. You can probably see the I have right there. So the secondary I've been trying to go to the doctor. The secondary concern that I have is when you guys left Miami. Okay. You got four four children in the back seat. Um, their ages are in the back seat right now. Is that five or 9, five, four, and three? That's that's their ages in the back seat. Um, yeah. Nine, five, seven, seven, nine, seven, five, and four. Five and four. Okay. So, under Florida law, so that's that's the concern that I have. The secondary concern is um who was the male that was driving the car? My little brother. That's your little brother. Okay. Um, were you awake when your brother was smoking marijuana in the car? No. No, you weren't awake when he was sleeping. Okay. You were sleeping when he was smoking marijuana. Did you know that he had marijuana on him? I'm not Oh, I wasn't aware that he had marijuana on him. Okay. So, you weren't aware that he had marijuana marijuana yet. It doesn't matter if it's if it's an ounce or 10 ounces, it's still not legal to have marijuana with you. And then obviously it's not if if he smoked it 20 minutes ago, it's it's not legal to I don't know. I don't know when he smoked it. I don't know if this smoker will stop here. I don't know. I will see. Gets back on the road. Now he is driving under the influence of with four juveniles. One of them obviously not in the seat. I can't I can't say that they all weren't in seat belts. I know that when we came up to the car, they weren't in their seat belts, but um two of them were supposed to be in car seats. Which one? said they said the four-year-old was supposed to be in car seat. So anybody under the age of five needs to be in a car seat. Under five and under. Five and under has to be in a car seat. Two out of the four kids should have been in car seat cars. All right. The other two seat belts are fine. So then that then basically that means I can't drive my car at all because I have six kids. Yes. This would not be a vehicle that would be suitable for you to drive. I know that. I just car for now to get around. You would have to have a vehicle that would seat six students. Yeah, I know. I always used to have vans and stuff like why this my I lost my car and this is the only option that I had to have a car for now. I understand. So like I said, there's other options that you as a mom have to take for the safety of your children because as a mom and those are your kids, you're saying, "Hey, you know what? I know there's not car seats and I can't fit them. I know I only have three seat belts, but hey, I got to go up to South Carolina so he can see his dad." A better option would be finding somebody to watch your juveniles so that you can fit up there. Or, hey, I'm going to stay here. Your brother, do you mind running him up to South Carolina to go meet his dad or bringing his dad back so that he can see his kid? All that, that would be stuff that I would expect a parent to do um for their children to make sure that their children were safe. Okay. Um do you have any family that's in the area here? Where is your family at? Far away. We don't live here at all. I understand you don't live here, but where would your family be at? Where would the nearest relative be at? Very far. Miami, Florida. And nobody have a car. And nobody has a car down in Miami. They don't know anybody that could No. I just got my car and this car is not even under my name. I I was going to go over the registration and everything. Um I'm Yeah. today whenever I get back to Miami with my brother. My brother's going to have a license. My older brother. Your older brother is the one with the license. And so he had to go to work. Your older brother had to work. Okay. So your younger brother, does he have a license? He never had a license before. So your younger brother never had a license before anything like that. Okay. So did you know he didn't have a license? Um I think Yeah. Yeah. He didn't. I don't think Yeah, he didn't have a license. Yeah. Okay. So that that's the other concern that I have is now you're asking your little brother to drive you knowing that knowing that he doesn't have a license and you're putting your children on the back of the car who don't have seat belts on a non-licensed driver. Listen, I love all of my kids. I understand what I'm saying. This isn't a question if you love your kids or not. Okay. I know what happened was a mistake. I understand. You know, I don't know what you want me to do. There's there's a lot I want you to do as a mom to to for the safety for your children. Buy a car seat. I can I can go by. At this time, we're going to detain him. All right. Over here. Do this. Walk with us. Walk in front of your kids. Walk with us to the doctor right now. We're detaining you. We're not putting in jail. We're detaining you. Okay. Just walk. I don't want to put your hands in front of your kids. Just walk with us to the back of the car. Walking through the rear of your car. Put your hands on that. I was sleeping. I don't know why you guys. Do you have anything on you at all? Nothing. All right. We're just going to have you put a seat right now in the back of the car. Okay. We're discussing that right now. Okay. We're going to have to further our investigation. right now. [Music] We'll discuss that later. Okay. One second. Okay. Questioning will stop at your request. Do you understand these rights? With these rights in mind, are you willing to talk to me? I'm sorry. I said with these rights in mind, are you willing to talk to me? No. You don't want to talk to us? We like I said, we're giving you the opportunity to talk to us. We already know most the answers. We just want to talk to you to try to figure out more stuff. [Music] You first you have to say yes, you want to talk to us or no, you don't want to talk to us. No, you don't want to talk to us. Okay. That means we're going to jail. What? Going to jail. Um, right now we're it's still an investigation. So, we're still doing an investigation into it. Okay. All right. If you were to go to jail today, your charges would be driving with no driver's license. Okay. Um I don't know how many suspensions you've had, um possibly driving under the influence narcotics and also child neglect for having narcotics in the vehicle with the children on there. And then also failure to for due cause to make sure those children, since you're the driver, you're responsible to make sure that they're in car seats and they're in seat belts. And we basically drove off and let one fall out of the car. Like I said, we we're still doing an investigation. That's why we wanted to talk to you. So, at this time, would you want to talk to us? Yes or no? No, you don't want to talk to us. Okay. All right. All right. Desire, a few more questions for you. Okay. This address on your ID, is this your most updated address? And do you have like a next ofkin to so to speak for that you'd want contact for your kids in reference to your children? someone that you would want contacted for them. What? Uh just for DCF because DCF has to be notified because your child fell out of the car. So this is a pertinent issue for them. And they want to notify me. They would they would they would be notified of the incident. So like you know your mom, aunt, somebody in the family, someone that you would want say you're primary of course, but what's the next ken? Next of ken meaning somebody else that you entrust. The father. Is the father local or is that's the one that's in South South Carolina? The one in South Carolina. We need somebody that's local. So if you coming from South Miami, so my mom, he knows my mom's number by heart. He does. Yeah. The 9004. My brother knows it by heart. All right. Do you know Can I get your mother's name? All right. Come on out. I'll fix your house for you. So, at this time, do you have anything on your persons that we haven't located or not? At this time, you are under arrest. All right. You are going to be charged with driving on a suspended license. All right. You are going to be charged You are going to be charged with child neglect. Okay. So, how long how long do a judge? That's I don't we don't make that decision. That's up to a judge. All right. We're just taking you to jail and the judge is going to go over everything. The judge can look at it and say, "You know what? I don't see the probable cause. I'm going to release you." All right. At this time, all we have is probable cause to say that you're driving under with child neglect and that you don't have a license. So, what we're option is if you have anything else on your person because once we take you down to the inmate facility, entering the inmate facility with anything on you that is illegal is a secondary charge. So, at this time, we give you the opportunity to tell us like, hey, I have a pill in my pocket. I have something my ass like a gun or a weapon or anything. All right. All right. This point, your brother's being placed under arrest for driving under um driving with spent driver's license felony, possession of marijuana, and the child neglect. You're also being placed under arrest for child neglect, and possession of the Okay. The two of you had every reason or right to either one put those kids in a car seat or make sure they're properly buckled in with the two of you failed. I mean, you put your children's life in danger by letting them smoke marijuana and driving like that. No. Okay. Well, all right. Let me call somebody so they can come get my kids. All right. Well, here's the deal. I right now I can't sit with your kids while someone comes from Miami. I did call Department of Children and Families. They are on their way to take possession of your kids. If you give me that name, I will give that name to them. And then there's a puppy in the car, too. Correct. Yeah, those are my puppies. All right. Puppies. There's more than one in there. All right. They're gonna go to We're going to turn them over to I can't to our um animal control. Hey, can I pick them up? Yeah, I'll give them your name. I give I give you brother the opportunity. Do you have anything on your persons? Cuz if you have anything on your persons, I can go get a female deputy to come and search you. All right. But introduction to anything into my in my facility is going to be a secondary charge. So, this is why I give you a few. How am I going to get my car out if it's not on my under my name? You won't be able to get it out until you bring a a valid registration insurance for the car cuz the car is not registered and the car is not insured. So, you shouldn't be driving this on the road, though. Okay. Okay. All right. It's all right. I see everything you got. Yeah. According to incident reports, the child's mother, identified as Desiree Rodriguez, was asleep in the passenger seat at the time of the incident. Her brother, Jacob Santos, who was driving, admitted to smoking marijuana with four young children in the back seat. He did not possess a medical marijuana card. Officers found evidence of marijuana in the vehicle and noted that at least one child was not properly restrained, violating Florida law. As of now, the incident remains under investigation by the Flaggler County Sheriff's Office and potential charges related to child endangerment and marijuana possession are being considered. Neither Santos nor Rodriguez have been officially charged at this time and are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of