Charges mount for White woman who ran over Black and Mexican children with SUV

Charges mount for White woman who ran over Black and Mexican children with SUV
NIcole Poole Franklin (Image source: Polk County jail)

A White woman motivated by her apparent hatred for minorities is in jail for a string of crimes she committed in a 24-hour period.

When questioned, Nicole Poole Franklin of Des Moines, Iowa, told police that she charged her SUV at a 14-year-old girl because she “was a Mexican.” It has since been revealed that Franklin also ran over the leg of a 12-year-old Black boy, before leaving that scene.


Community members are pushing for a hate crime designation that would add to her current charges of attempted murder for the driving incidents.

According to CNN, the woman “made a series of derogatory statements about Latinos.”


Franklin was also charged with assault, theft and public intoxication for her role in a convenient store crime only an hour and a half after the second driving incident. In it, she pocketed items, then hurled racial slurs and threw items at a store clerk who questioned whether she’d intended on paying for the goods.

According to police and reports by CNN, footage proves Franklin intentionally hit the 12-year-old boy only an hour before she ran down the 14-year-old girl.

A witness reported that the SUV “gunned its engine” before striking the girl and fleeing the scene.

Thankfully, the boy’s injuries were minor and the girl was back in school within a week after being treated for her injuries.

“I didn’t do anything,” the young victim told CNN affiliate KCCI. “I’m just a girl just walking to a basketball game.”

Franklin, who admitted to taking meth earlier in the day, is awaiting new representation, as the Des Moines public defender’s office has withdrawn from her case.

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