The mother of a Michigan toddler killed by a car says she is devastated after prosecutors decided the driver will not face criminal charges.
Jessica Fernandez said she has been left with painful unanswered questions following the decision not to pursue charges against the driver who struck and killed her two-year-old son, Darwin Olson.
Darwin was hit at about 5am on March 19 outside his grandmother’s home in Ironwood, Michigan. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fernandez told KBTX that Darwin had spent the previous evening at her mother’s house. She said she woke to a 7am phone call asking whether she had already arrived to collect him.
When Fernandez replied that she had not, she said her mother screamed over the phone and told her Darwin was missing.
Fernandez rushed to the house but was stopped by emergency barricades and police officers at the scene. She said she immediately feared the child was her son.
“I got out of the vehicle and I said, ‘Is he OK?’ And (an officer) told me, ‘No, he’s not.’ And I said, ‘Is he alive?’ And he told me, ‘No,’” Fernandez recalled.
The Gogebic County Prosecutor’s Office said its review found that the child had been left “unattended.” Images from the scene also showed heavy snowfall in the area where the collision occurred.
Two-year-old Darwin Olson was killed on March 19 in Ironwood, Michigan, after being struck by a car at about 5am outside his grandmother’s home.
Darwin’s mother, Jessica Fernandez, said she was heartbroken after prosecutors declined to charge the driver who struck her son.
Prosecutors announced this week that they would not file charges against the driver, a decision Fernandez said she could not understand.
“That’s the biggest thing is just I have all these questions, and it feels that no one wants to answer them for me,” the mother said.
Fernandez said the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office did not disclose the driver’s identity. She said officials told her only that the driver was a man and described the type of car involved.
The sheriff’s office disputed this to KBTX, and said a full police report with the driver’s identity was given to Fernandez’s attorney.
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Gogebic County Sheriff Jorge Cruz said investigators conducted a comprehensive inquiry, including an examination of “the circumstances in which the toddler was unattended.”
The Daily Mail has contacted the sheriff’s office for comment.
Darwin was struck by a car at about 5am on March 19 outside his grandmother’s home in Ironwood, Michigan, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Gogebic County Prosecutor’s Office said its review found Darwin had been left “unattended,” while scene images showed heavy snowfall when the crash occurred.
The decision not to charge the driver sparked outrage locally, prompting a protest and candlelight vigil outside the Gogebic County courthouse.
Prosecutors ultimately declined to bring charges, but Fernandez said officials’ explanation did not satisfy her.
“Their words were that he didn’t think he could win the case,” she said.
‘When I called, he had told me that they didn’t present anything criminal with my son’s case.’
The decision sparked outrage in the area, and a protest and candlelight vigil was held outside the Gogebic County courthouse.
Protesters were seen at the vigil with signs reading, ‘Justice for Darwin.’
Fernandez said she has been left heartbroken. ‘I just miss him all around,’ she said of her son.
‘I’ll never get to see those milestones or anything that you would hope to see when your child grows up.’