John Jefferson
Left: Tasshay Mills appears in bond court wearing jail orange (Zoom). Right: Ring camera footage shows the suspect snatching the baby she allegedly pushed out of a car (WPLG).
A 29-year-old Florida mother apparently set off by “spilled shampoo” faces a felony neglect and abuse case after she allegedly retaliated against her 1-year-old daughter by booting her out of a car in Hialeah at night, driving away, making a U-turn, and then snatching the baby from the arms of a woman who brought the child to safety away from the street.
The charges against Tasshay Chelsea Mills, 29, do not represent her first brush with the law, as court records reviewed by Law&Crime from recent years show several other cases, whether involving theft, assault or probation violations. In her latest criminal case, stemming from the incident near NW 37th Avenue and NW 54th Street at 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 5, Mills has been ordered to stay away from her child upon posting a $7,500 bond in Miami-Dade County.
The alleged facts of the case began to emerge a day after the incident, when a missing person alert went out and investigators searched for the child, Mills, and a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu. Though that missing person alert was cancelled when the 1-year-old was found safe, Mills went on to be arrested.
According to the Hialeah Police Department, a woman who was also inside Mills’ car at the time said “spilled shampoo” in the back seat of the car was what sparked the suspect’s “angry” response. Mills allegedly hit her 1-year-old and pushed the baby out of the car onto the “asphalt,” prompting stunned nearby witnesses to leap into action.
Local ABC affiliate WPLG aired Ring camera footage and interviewed the witness, also a mother, who encountered the suspect after rescuing the baby.
The witness said that she and her boyfriend were in a car behind Mills when they saw the 1-year-old pushed into the road. The girl was reportedly “bleeding from her head.”
Mills, for her part, allegedly drove away “erratically” and then made a U-turn back to the spot where her child was helped.
The shocking video footage then showed the defendant snatching the baby from the witness’ arms.
“Okay, I’m not giving you this baby,” the witness could be heard saying, just before the suspect grabbed the child and walked away.
After she was taken into custody by the Miramar Police Department, WPLG reported, Mills claimed that she didn’t push the girl out of the car but “removed” her to “clean the seat.”
Mills is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. on Oct. 10.
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