A 1-year-old boy is dead after a woman allegedly stole his mother’s vehicle with him inside and crashed.
Antwineesha Burse, 31, faces a felony charge of knowingly operating a motor vehicle without a license, causing death, after the Milwaukee Police Department said she was behind the wheel of a white Pontiac that crashed into a green Dodge Caravan on Friday at around 11:30 p.m., according to NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV. The occupants of the Caravan fled the scene after the crash, authorities told the news outlet.
The baby was identified by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as Zarion Robinson. Burse was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the hospital before being arrested, per the outlet.
Zarion was was in the rear passenger side of the vehicle, the newspaper reported. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said although Zarion was in a car seat, he was not fully secured. There are also suspicions that Burse was speeding, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Zarion’s mother, Mikayla Tweedie, told the newspaper that Burse is her “acquaintance” and she had just gotten out of the vehicle before Burse allegedly stole it.
“That day me and my cousin stopped by the house. (The suspected driver) was in the back seat, she (is) a family friend,” she said. “Me and my cousin went inside to drop my cousin’s cat off. … She took it upon herself to hop in the driver’s seat and pull off with my child in the car. I called her and said I don’t care about the car, I just want my baby back.”
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She added that she was shocked Burse allegedly took her car.
“I knew her well enough to think she wouldn’t do something like that,” Tweedie told the newspaper.
She shared that Zarion had a “beautiful smile” and “the most amazing heart.”
Eddie Anthony, Zarion’s dad, also told the publication, “I want to see justice, I do. I want to see justice. He didn’t deserve it, he had a lot of life ahead of him. Like I said, gone but never forgotten, but it’s a lot of heartache that we will never get over. Everybody’s going to think about it every day, every minute, every second, so it’s tough, it’s hard.”
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He added of his late son, “He was always playful. He always had a smile, always laughing just doing normal stuff, just growing up everyday, so for this to happen is just tragic.”
The child’s grandfather, Donnie Thomas, said that he is “hurt” over the loss, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Justice needs to be served.”
Burse could be fined up to $10,000 and spend six years in prison if convicted, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
A criminal complaint stated that officers on the scene allegedly found her in the driver’s seat, according to CBS 58 News. The Milwaukee Fire Department pulled Zarion from the car before he was rushed to Children’s Wisconsin, according to the outlet.
The news station added that “reasonable inferences based on the position of the vehicles” in the accident indicate that Burse was driving southbound and crossed into a northbound lane before hitting the other car.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Burse allegedly does not have a driver’s license, per CBS 58 News.
The Milwaukee Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. It’s unclear if Burse has an attorney who can comment on her behalf.