LANIECE FLETCHER - 2 yo (2011) - Aurora CO

AURORA, Colo. -- A mother told police she was on
Facebook when her 22-month-old daughter was hit in a nearby parking lot
on May 27, police said. The toddler, Laniece Fletcher, died.The mother, 30-year-old Karen Pena, faces charges of child abuse and child abuse resulting in death.In
court documents obtained by 7NEWS, the driver of a van said she was
dropping a child off at an apartment complex. When she pulled forward
she said she felt a bump and thought she had run over a speed bump.



When she looked in the rear view mirror, she saw a small child laying in
the parking lot, according to the mother's arrest affidavit.The driver said she exited the van, ran to the toddler and yelled for someone to call 911.In court documents obtained by 7NEWS, Pena admitted letting Laniece go outside her apartment with her older sister.That
sister said she was outside playing with other children and saw Laniece
in front of the van. The girl told police she tried to call Laniece to
move away from the van, but she didn't.Laniece's skull was crushed, according to Arapahoe County Coroner Dr. Michael Dobersen.When asked by police who was supposed to be watching the child, Pena said, "Well, it was me, obviously."Police
said when asked what she was doing when Laniece was run over by a van
just a few yards in front of her home, Pena said she was checking
messages on her Facebook account on the second floor of her apartment.Pena appeared in an Arapahoe County courthouse Friday. Bond set at $50,000.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/28273752/detail.html

Karen Pena
November 7, 2011 at 11:13am via mobile ·

ON MY WAY TO COURT AND I ASK FOR EVERY ONES BLESSINGS AND PRAYERS CAUS THIS ONE IS PROBABLY GOING TO DETERMINE WHAT OUR NEAR FUTURE HOLDS. SEEMS THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE SHOWING UP FOR SUPPORT HAS WENT DOWN BUT THATS OK. JUS AS LONG AS GOD IS THERE, ILL BE OK. THANK TINA BOOZE AND MY MOM FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE WHEN YOU CAN. HAVE A GOOD DAY EVERYONE!

https://www.facebook.com/karen.pena.988/posts/275916199114000

Is there a gag order on this case? Not finding much info . . .

Aurora mom gets probation for Facebooking while infant was hit, killed by van

Posted on: 9:09 pm, October 26, 2012, by David Mitchell

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A judge sentenced the mother of a 20-month-old who was killed after getting hit by a van in a parking lot to five years probation.

Karen Pena, 31, pleaded guilty to negligent child abuse that resulted in death.

Prosecutors say Pena was on Facebook in her apartment while her 20-month-old daughter, Lanice Fletcher, was outside without adult supervision on May 27, 2011.

The little girl was hit by a van in the parking lot of the apartment complex.

The District Attorney’s office says Pena avoided jail time because of her compliance with the Department of Human Services.


http://kdvr.com/2012/10/26/aurora-mom-gets-probation-for-facebooking-while-infant-was-hit-killed-by-van/

Personally I think she should get more than just probation. The little angel is dead. Please don't let this happen to your little angel. If she had followed my tips below this angel would be alive.

NEVER assume where your child is, KNOW.
NEVER assume your child is NOT in the car LOOK.
NEVER leave your child ALONE for one second, NEVER.
NEVER assume your child is safe, KNOW.

I had plenty of times I walked out to the car and saw my neighbors kids playing in or near the alleyway. I always told their dad to watch them when I backed out since they were too small for me to see. Then I got in my car. The driver of the van probably could not see the little girl. I know even a 2-3 year old I can't see behind my car if they are close. Teach your kids to be safe around cars. They are not toys or things to have fun in.

William

Mom was upstairs, on Facebook, when her toddler was fatally hit by van

AURORA — The mother of a 22-month-old girl who died after she was run over by a van on May 27 says she was on the second floor of her condo checking Facebook messages when her daughter was hit, according to court documents.

The child's mother, Karen Pena, 30, first told police her kids — including 22-month-old Laniece Fletcher and her 3-year-old brother — had gone to play at the next-door neighbor's. She later told them she had sent the kids to play in their yard inside a fenced area at her condo.

Pena was arrested Thursday on charges of child abuse resulting in death, a Class 3 felony. She is being held on $50,000 bail.

Laniece was in a parking lot at the Sierra Condos near East Mississippi Avenue and East Alameda Parkway about 3:19 p.m. when she was run over by a Kids Wheels van that had just dropped off another child at a specialized learning program.

She had a pulse and was breathing when she arrived at Children's Hospital in Aurora, but later died. The driver of the van that hit Laniece has not been charged with a crime.

In Pena's arrest affidavit, Aurora police detectives noted several hazards to children inside the fenced yard, including a gate that did not latch, a bottle of lighter fluid on the back patio step, an open window well and a plastic pool with about 5 inches of water in it.

Pena told investigators she could see her children from the second floor of her condo through a window.

She also said she could both see and hear them as she used her computer, but detectives indicate that wasn't possible.

Detectives said they asked Pena who was supposed to be supervising the children when they went outside and played. "Karen Pena said, 'Well, it was me, obviously,' " police Detective Christine Hurley wrote.

Pena said she last looked outside her bedroom window and saw her children on the sidewalk outside the fenced-in area about three minutes before her daughter was hit.

Pena said that at that time, she told her kids to play inside the fence. "I told the kids to be inside the gated area," Pena told 9News shortly after the incident.

Five minutes after that, her 12-year-old daughter ran inside and told her to call 911, she said.

"I will have to live with that for the rest of my life," she said during the interview. "I could be blamed for this. I never let my kids out. I was not neglecting them."

Investigators also noted unsanitary conditions in the home.

The affidavit also accounts numerous reports about Pena to social services. Neighbors told investigators they often saw the young children outside alone, wearing only diapers so soiled that they hung down to their knees.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18303999?source=pkg




I found a few earlier articles. What got me was the last sentence above. That tells of neglect when diapers are so bad they hang down like that to be noticed. She should have gotten much more than probabation. It always breaks my heart more when I see their picture. The mother's out and the little angel is dead.
William

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