Mother says children tied in the back of pickup truck driven by heroin-addict boyfriend wanted to go for a 'joy ride'
Drivers in Washington state spotted a man and a woman driving with two children tied using bungee cords in the back of a pickup truck. The Puyallup Police Department was informed about the event and the authorities decided to respond to the report of the suspicious highway sighting.
Police document state that the authorities tracked down the truck which was being driven by 48-year-old driver Philip Wells. Philip was reportedly traveling around 60mph with the juveniles unsecured in the back. He initially refused to stop the vehicle when the police asked him to. The police were finally able to stop the vehicle after traveling quite at a distance. They noted that Philip's girlfriend, and the mother of the two children, Ambrosia Jurado, was sitting in the passenger's seat.
The police found her eight-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter in the back of the truck. The children were tied up using cords and crammed in between what appeared to be luggage and other heavy items. Puyallup police said in the report that ,when they questioned the children, they said that they had "fun". Meanwhile, the mother claimed that her children had asked her if they could go for the joy ride at the back of the truck. She claimed that it was an offer she could not refuse.
The police also searched the vehicle and found traces of heroin and used hypodermic needles. The police claimed that the needles belonged to Philip. Both the adults were arrested at the scene. Philip was jailed and charged with reckless endangerment and delivery of drug paraphernalia. Ambrosia was jailed and charged with reckless endangerment, but was soon released.
However, she was emotional about her children having to go through this. "When I got out of jail, I couldn't even call them to let them know that everything is OK and it wasn't their fault," she told the local channel, as reported by Daily Mail.
"I know they're going to feel like it's their fault," she added. Ambrosia further added she would "love forgiveness" and felt sorry that her two children had to face this. "Unless we choose to become aware, it'll be just like it is for me right now... You have nothing, even when you're trying your hardest to do something, they take it from you," she added but gave no explanation of what she meant by the statement.
Puyallup Police Captain Ryan Portmann said that when they first received the call about the incident, they thought it was a case of kidnapping. He also added that the children are lucky to be alive as there are a number of things that could have gone wrong, thus, causing them injury. "The potential to great bodily harm, if not death, had there been a car accident," he said.