Iowa woman accused of running over teen charged with hit-run of 2nd child, reports say

An Iowa woman accused of running over a 14-year-old girl because she’s “a Mexican” has been charged with attempted murder in another hit-and-run and also with a hate crime in another incident, media outlets report.

Nicole Marie Poole Franklin, 42, reportedly “intentionally” hit a 12-year-old boy on Dec. 9 prior to another hit-and-run an hour later, WHOTV13 reported.

“Witnesses reportedly saw an SUV accelerate, leave the roadway and hit the boy as he walked on the sidewalk at an apartment complex property,” the station said, adding that his injuries were minor.

Franklin was also charged with attempted murder after striking a girl who was walking to an after-school activity the same day in Clive, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines, McClatchy News reported. The girl was knocked out for about 15 minutes, but regained consciousness and walked to the school for help with her injuries, police said.

The girl was identified as Natalia Miranda, according to The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Franklin drove away from the scene and went to a gas station in West Des Moines, police said.

When she went inside, Franklin stuffed an ice cream cone in her pocket and began eating a bag of chips she grabbed from a shelf, according to a police report. Then she went to the clerk and asked for $30 in fuel and a bottle of liquor, police said.

When the clerk returned with the alcohol, Franklin tried to snatch it from his hands, police said.

She then pushed items off the counter and threw merchandise at the clerk, yelling racial slurs at him, according to the police report. She also kicked an African American man in the leg and tried to hit him while he tried to leave the store, according to the police report. He shoved her to the ground and left before officers arrived, police said.

KCCI obtained video that appears to show Franklin flipping off people and calling them the N-word.

When questioned by police about the theft, Franklin pulled an open bag of peanuts, a beef jerky wrapper and the ice cream cone from her pockets, according to the police report. Franklin told officers she’d smoked meth within the past five hours, police said.

She was charged with a hate crime in the assault and public intoxication and misdemeanor theft, West Des Moines police said.

While she was in custody, detectives questioned Franklin about the 14-year-old girl who was hit because her vehicle matched the description by witnesses, McClatchy News reported. That’s when Franklin told investigators she targeted the girl because she’s “a Mexican” and made other derogatory statements about Latino people, police said.

Polk County Attorney John Sarcone said enhancing the attempted murder charge with a hate crime could leave the possibility for a jury to drop the attempted murder charge — a more serious crime with a maximum 25-year sentence, according to the Des Moines Registers.

“It may sound nice, but it doesn’t help anything,” Sarcone told the Des Moines Register. “When it’s appropriate to enhance, we’ll do it.”

Sarcone did say that adding a hate crime to the attempted murder case is still an option, the newspaper reported.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, demanded that the attack be treated as a hate crime by prosecutors, according to a news release.

“Now, to see 14-year old Natalia, a young woman who could be our daughter or granddaughter run over while innocently walking to a high school basketball game is a crime that must be prosecuted for what it is — attempted murder motivated by blind rage over the color of the victim’s skin,” Domingo Garcia, president of the organization, wrote in the news release.

This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 3:50 PM.