John Jefferson
The intersection in Clermont, Florida, where an alleged drunken crash occurred on July 25, 2024 (Google Maps). Inset: Josefina Lopez (Lake County Jail).
A mother in Florida is facing child abuse charges after she allegedly flipped her Jeep while driving under the influence on a suspended license and then left her child trapped in the vehicle as she told a witness not to call 911.
Josefina Lopez, 21, of Clermont, was arrested on July 25, according to court records reviewed Friday by Law&Crime. She was charged with the third-degree felony of abuse, aggravated abuse and neglect of a child, jail records show, as well as driving under the influence, a first-degree misdemeanor. She was cited for driving on a suspended license as well.
Lopez is currently detained at the Lake County Jail in Clermont and will appear in court next for an arraignment on Aug. 19 at 8 a.m. Her bond is currently set at $7,000.
It is unclear if Lopez has retained an attorney.
An arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime on Friday from Clermont Police shows the crash took place just after 4 a.m. on July 25. Lopez was only found after witnesses had called 911 reporting that a woman’s 2020 Jeep appeared to be flipped over on the side of the road in a ditch.
Police said a witness who came upon the crash saw and heard Lopez using her phone after slamming the door to the Jeep shut.
“Don’t call 911, don’t call 911, help me get my baby, he’s in the car,” the witness said Lopez told her, according to the affidavit.
The baby could be heard crying and the witness told Clermont Police she tried to flag down another vehicle for help. Lopez was still on her phone and stepped away “to the corner of her car and sat down where law enforcement arrived.”
“It should be noted that Josefina was not the one to call 911, (redacted) a witness was the one who called in regard to the accident while Josefina had full access to her phone and continued to make other phone calls,” the arrest affidavit states.
The vehicle was reportedly flipped onto its passenger’s side with the child still in it. The age of the child was not reported and the extent of the damage to the vehicle was not reported but the child is described as a “baby” in the arrest affidavit.
Police said when they made contact with Lopez “she claimed that she was 100% fine and sober” but police said they could smell alcohol on her breath and further, they had not yet asked her if she was sober when she volunteered the information.
Clermont Police said the crash occurred near Johns Lake and Hancock Roads.
Lopez allegedly told police that she missed a turn while following directions on her phone and that she attempted to make a U-turn, causing her car to go off the road and then flip on its side.
Police said Lopez’s eyes looked “glassy and bloodshot.”
She refused medical care when transported to a hospital, police said.
While in the ambulance headed to the hospital, she allegedly told police she did not have a phone to use or a place to stay but officers said it should be noted that they observed her using a phone and making calls on it during portions of her police interview.
Officers reported that Lopez did not attempt to rescue her child and the child was ultimately removed from the car and transported to an area hospital for a medical evaluation.
According to the police affidavit, Lopez told officers to “give her kid to foster care” and that she would be “leaving the state when she got out due to her having nowhere else to stay in Florida.”
After being medically cleared, local Fox affiliate WOFL reported that Lopez’s child was put into the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Lopez’s driver’s license has been suspended since January.
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Children and Families did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
According to the Florida Department of Health’s Florida Health Charts, impaired driving in the Sunshine State has been on an upswing in recent years. In 2022, the rate per 100,000 of alcohol-confirmed motor vehicle traffic crash fatalities was 2.6 compared to the entire state of Florida which clocked in at a rate of 1.9 such fatalities.
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