By Erik Ortiz
NBC News
Photo courtesy of www.nbcnews.com
Police in Daytona Beach, Fla., are defending their handling of the case involving a mother who plunged a minivan filled with her three kids into the ocean — two hours after she was stopped by an officer who noted her shaky mental state.
A police spokesman told NBC News on Thursday that the department doesn’t plan to review why the officer who pulled over 32-year-old Ebony Wilkerson — and had written in his report that she appeared to be “suffering from some form of mental illness” — let her go.
Wilkerson’s sister called 911 on Tuesday asking for police to find her and check on her well-being. She said Wilkerson, who came to Florida to flee an abusive husband, was acting odd — but that she didn’t believe the children were in danger.