McLennan County, Texas — A jury on April 7 found Erika Martinez-Ramirez guilty of endangering a child after authorities said she allowed her 14-year-old son to drive her vehicle, leading to a fatal crash in 2024. Judge Vikram Deivanayagam of County Court at Law 1 sentenced her to the maximum penalty of two years in prison.
The charges stem from a July 14, 2024, crash in Bellmead. Around 1:30 a.m., Martinez-Ramirez’s son was driving her car when he struck and killed a bicyclist before crashing into a nearby home. Police determined the teen driver was intoxicated at the time. His 10-year-old sister was also in the vehicle and suffered minor injuries.
Investigators said Martinez-Ramirez gave her son the car keys and instructed him to drive his sister to a nearby house to retrieve clothes. The fatal crash occurred during that trip.
Authorities noted the teen had previously been stopped twice while driving his mother’s vehicle. On December 12, 2023, an officer pulled over the car for speeding and found the underage driver along with several other children. Martinez-Ramirez was cited for allowing her son to drive. Two weeks later, on December 24, 2023, the teen was again driving when he struck another vehicle and fled the scene. Police again contacted Martinez-Ramirez and warned her against allowing him to drive.
Because the driver is a juvenile, details of his prosecution are not publicly disclosed under Texas law.
Prosecutors did not charge Martinez-Ramirez with manslaughter, stating there was no evidence she knew her son was intoxicated when she allowed him to drive. Instead, she was charged with endangering a child, a charge that carries the same punishment range as criminally negligent homicide but is easier to prove.
Authorities said Martinez-Ramirez also has an immigration detainer filed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is expected to face deportation proceedings after serving her sentence.
The case was investigated by the Bellmead Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Michaelina Yearty and Duncan Widmann.
“Parents are rarely prosecuted for crimes committed by their children, but this mother's actions were so irresponsible and so frequent that both prosecution and a maximum sentence were warranted,” Yearty and Widmann said. “We are grateful for the Bellmead Police Department's excellent work on this case.”
