Margaret Hassan Charged With Child Abuse, More Following Police Pursuit, Standoff With 9-Year-Old Daughter In Vehicle
DIAMOND BAR (CBSLA) — A 30-year-old Pomona woman was charged Thursday with leading Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies on a wild chase with her 9-year-old daughter in the car.
Margaret Ann Hassan, 30, was charged with one felony count each of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death, assault with a deadly weapon and fleeing a pursuing peace officer's motor vehicle while driving recklessly, along with seven misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run driving resulting in property damage, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Hassan was taken into custody Tuesday night after an hours-long standoff following a high-speed pursuit that started Tuesday near the Walnut-Diamond Bar sheriff's station.
A 9-year-old child, who was in the car during the entire ordeal, came out of the vehicle first after deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deployed a tear gas canister into the car.
"We had no knowledge that a child was in the car," said Special Enforcement Bureau Deputy Darell Edwards. The father of three told reporters he wanted to `physically take care of her, let her know it was OK.
The 9-year-old girl was crying and "she asked for water," Edwards said.
Hassan was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, child endangerment, and felony evading, and was being held on $130,000 bail, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reported.
Her daughter was taken to a hospital for a precautionary medical examination and was released to the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Her name was not released.
The girl hopped into the arms of a deputy as the rest of the team, with guns drawn, descended on her mother's car who gave up soon after, bringing the hours-long standoff to an end.
The ordeal began with a hit-and-run crash about 3:20 p.m. Tuesday near the Walnut-Diamond Bar Sheriff's Station at 21695 Valley Blvd. in Walnut, according to Deputy Trina Schrader of the Sheriff's Information Bureau.
"The pursuit stemmed from the female suspect (Hassan) becoming involved in a road rage incident with another motorist on the road, which transpired into the suspect using her vehicle as a weapon against the other motorist," Schrader alleged.
During the pursuit, the woman injured several people and slammed into more than five vehicles before coming to a stop in Diamond Bar after her car became disabled.
"Nobody knew the child was in the car," LASD Lt. Todd Knight said.
Knight said deputies were not aware that the child was in the backseat of the vehicle when they attempted several PIT maneuvers during the pursuit or when they fired bean bag rounds through the windows.
He said the deputies did not know until the child walked out of the car following the deployment of the teargas.
Brian Avilos, whose vehicle was struck during the pursuit, said that when he realized a child was involved, it made him both mad and sad.
"Mad because she's an adult and should know her responsibility," he said.
Hassan is set to be arraigned Friday in a Pomona courtroom
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
