KINGSLAND, Ga. – A Georgia mother of two young children was arrested Thursday in connection with a suspected hit-and-run DUI crash that turned into an attack, according to the Kingsland Police Department.
Lauren Wilder, of Kingsland, faces multiple charges, including DUI, two counts of child endangerment, two counts of child abuse, hit-and-run and battery.
As of Friday evening, she remained in the Camden County jail without bond.
It was at the corner of Woodhaven Drive and Windtree Lane where police said Wilder crashed a white Honda sedan into a ditch with her two children, ages 3 and 5, in the car.
Two teenage girls who witnessed the crash ran over to make sure everyone inside was OK.
According to the arrest report, one the girls said she smelled alcohol on Wilder’s breath and then Wilder began punching her in the face.
The girl called her mother and told her what happened.
"I went running out of the house with no shoes on. It was raining," said the girl's mother, who wished to remain anonymous. "(I) drove immediately over there."
She said when she got there, she saw that Wilder’s mother had pulled up in another vehicle.
"She and her children had gotten into the mother’s car and the mother was yelling at her to leave and that she would say it was her who was in the accident," she said.
On Friday, News4Jax went to Wilder’s mother’s home, where Wilder was later tracked down by police and arrested.
"If this is all you got to report on, then I feel sorry for you," she said.
According to the arrest report, when police spoke to Wilder, they said she smelled of alcohol.
Police said when they questioned Wilder, she admitted to also hitting a guardrail on Interstate 95 prior to crashing into a ditch near her mother’s home.
According to court records, Wilder has a 2011 conviction for DUI drugs and alcohol, a DUI conviction in August 2017 and a pending DUI case from September 2017.