Driver tells cops she ran over 14-year-old because she’s ‘a Mexican,’ Iowa police say

An Iowa woman says she hit a 14-year-old girl with her vehicle because she’s “a Mexican,” according to police.

On Dec. 9, the teen was walking to an afterschool activity at Indiana Hills Junior High School in Clive, Iowa, when the driver left the road and ran over the girl, according to a news release. Then the woman drove away in her Jeep, the Des Moines Register reported.

About an hour later, police stopped a vehicle matching the description by witnesses, Clive Police Chief Michael Venema said during a news conference streamed by KCCI on Facebook.

Des Moines resident Nicole Marie Poole Franklin, 42, was arrested and taken to jail on separate charges, police said.

When detectives interviewed her, Franklin told them that she intentionally hit the girl because she is “a Mexican,” police said. She also made other derogatory comments about Latino people to detectives, police said.

“There is no place in our community — or any other for that matter — for this type of hatred or violence,” Venema said during the news conference.

The girl returned to school about a week after the collision, West Des Moines Community Schools Superintendent Lisa Remy said at the news conference.

“We are grateful that her injuries were not life-threatening and that she was able to return to school a week later,” Remy said. “We understand the emotional impact of the incident will remain long after her body heals.”

The girl talked to KCCI about the crash before Franklin was charged.

“I don’t remember the impact,” she told KCCI. “I just remember the car coming towards me.”

Police believe she was knocked out on the ground for about 15 minutes until she “stumbled” to the school for help, KCCI reported.

Franklin is charged with attempted murder, police said.

This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 11:35 AM.