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Berline Francois-Torres, 28, of Ronkonkoma, was driving a 2010 Nissan eastbound on Fulton Street in West Babylon, with her children, ages 5 and 9, in the vehicle, when the vehicle left the roadway and crashed through a fence and into a house, located at 30 Fulton Street, on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7:20 p.m., Suffolk County Police said.
Francois-Torres reported to police that her boyfriend had been in the vehicle and that he had punched her in the face, intentionally grabbed and turned the steering wheel, and caused the crash, according to police.
She further stated that her boyfriend had fled the scene on foot prior to police arrival, police said.
Following further investigation, First Precinct Crime Section officers obtained video surveillance that contradicted Francois-Torres’s account of the incident.
The video showed that Francois-Torres’s boyfriend was not in the vehicle at the time of the crash, and that she intentionally drove the Nissan at him in an attempt to run him over, when she instead lost control of the vehicle, which then crashed through the fence and into the house, said police.
First Precinct Crime Section officers arrested Berline Francois-Torres at her residence at 47 West 1st Street, Ronkonkoma on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 11:50 p.m.
Francois-Torres was charged with:
- Third-degree falsely reporting an incident,
- Second-degree making an apparently sworn statement,
- Second-degree reckless endangerment,
- Two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Francois-Torres was held overnight and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Thursday, Nov. 26.
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