Custody Hearing Held For Mother Who Hit Officer's Patrol Car In School Zone
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - With tears streaming down her face, Jessica Freelove faced a judge Tuesday. The allegations against her started with, what should have been a simple traffic stop for speeding, but instead turned into a police chase.
On Monday, in a Southwest Fort Lauderdale school zone, investigators say Freelove, 24, after being stopped for speeding, drove away telling authorities she was too busy.
"Her response to them telling her that she was speeding in the school zone was, 'I don't have time for this' and then she forced her way to get away from the officers," said Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Deanna Greenlaw.
Freelove was not alone in the car, both her three-year-old and seven-year-old children were along for the ride when detectives say she rammed into a police cruiser while trying to get away.
"This in particular was more shocking for our officers because there were two small children in the back seat of the vehicle who were potentially put in harm by their mother, by the way she was driving and her actions," Det. Greenlaw said.
In court, her attorney tried to convince the judge that she's a good mom.
"She is a good mother," the attorney said. "She's a hard working lady. She has two jobs working by herself to raise these kids and is doing the best she can."
Freelove was fighting to keep her children out of state custody. She hoped her mom could take the children. But after hearing a snippet of the grandmother's arrest report, and that she has a history with DCF, the judge said no.
"Don't waste your time doing a background home study on the grandmother," said Broward Circuit Judge Kenneth Gillespie. He continued, "At this time the children are placed in the department's custody."
That's when her family disrupted court proceedings, letting the judge know there are others hoping to take care of the kids.
"I don't think it's fair for them to have to take my grandchildren away from the home where they was raised at," said the grandmother Juliette Snell, "and to use my background from something that happened 15 to 20 years ago to take children out the home. That's not fair."
The arraignment for this case is set for next month.
