Cops say an Oregon woman who struck three teens in a crosswalk with her car was distracted because she was taking a video of her baby while behind the wheel.
Elizabeth Rachel Dove, 23, faces third-degree assault, recklessly endangering and reckless driving in the Jan. 15 crash. Three teenage girls, all students at Centennial High School in Gresham, were injured in the crash.
Phone records outlined in court documents show that Dove was talking on the phone, texting and driving in the minutes immediately preceding the crash. Video recovered from her phone shows a clip of her infant son in the front passenger seat, which investigators determined that Dove hit the teenagers 1.42 seconds after the video ended.
When the teenagers entered the crosswalk, Dove "appears to have had no hands on the steering wheel," documents said. Police said the driver was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time.
One of the victims, Sarah Hollenbeck, 15, told KGW that the first thing she remembers after the crash is waking up on the pavement with her friends lying on the ground beside her.
"It was really scary because I saw both my friends being covered in a blanket and I thought they were dead," Hollenbeck told the station. She added that the crosswalk is a frequent site of accidents involving pedestrians because drivers drive too fast.
Dove has pleaded not guilty, according to KOIN. Prosecutors told the station that they'll argue the young mother created a substantial risk of injury with her distracted driving.
In Oregon, using a phone while driving is prohibited unless the driver is 18 or older and using a hands-free device.
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