Mom Who Jaywalked Kids Across a 4-Lane Highway Faces Prison for Son’s Hit-and-Run Death

Raquel Nelson said she was trying to avoid a very long walk with her three tired children when she got off a bus and decided to jaywalk alongside several other pedestrians across a four lane highway in Marietta, Ga. She could face up to three years in prison for that decision, because a hit-and-run driver killed her 4-year-old son, A.J., just moments after they started toward their home on the other side of the road.

The driver, Jerry Guy, a repeat offender with two prior hit-and-run convictions, was reportedly under the influence of alcohol, prescription drugs and is partially blind in one eye. Police were able to find and arrest Guy, and he pleaded guilty to one charge of hit and run. He was convicted and served six months in prison and is currently on probation.

Nelson is charged with second-degree vehicular homicide, reckless conduct and failure to use a crosswalk and is now facing a stiffer sentence than the criminal who killed her son.

“It is her fault and it is his fault, but at the same time she suffered such a great loss so I just don’t see what putting her in prison is going to do,” said Nelson’s neighbor, Mike Johnson.

Johnson called the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death, “A real horrible situation.”