Mom of baby who drowned in Florence flood pleads guilty to misdemeanor

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — A mother charged with the death of her baby who died when floodwaters swept him away during Tropical Storm Florence pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor death by vehicle Monday afternoon.

Dazia Lee said she lost control of her car on a flooded highway when Florence hit the state in September. Lee was driving across a bridge over Richardson Creek when her car was swept off the road.

[Body of missing 1-year-old swept away by floodwaters found in Union County]

Her 15-month-old son Kaiden drowned in the rushing water and Lee was charged with felony involuntary manslaughter.

At the time, the Union County sheriff said the decision to charge the 20-year-old mother came because she knowingly drove around the barricades on Highway 218.

Lee said she continued driving around the barricades after she saw other drivers doing so.

She then got stuck in the flood waters, tried to get her son out of his car seat but lost her grip on him. Lee said she did not know how to swim.

The NAACP said Lee panicked that day and has been through enough.

[NAACP: Mother who drove around barricades shouldn't be charged in son's drowning death]

Channel 9 interviewed Lee before she was charged. She said she did everything possible to save her son but couldn't hold onto Kaiden in the floodwater.

It was revealed in court that Lee has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in connection with the incident.

Judge Tripp Helms told Lee she would not serve jail time if she continued working with a mental health counselor, paid court costs and avoided driving unless her license is restored, according to the Monroe-Enquirer Journal.

Helms said he would not fine Lee.

“I think that it would be some kind of moral obscenity to be setting a dollar value on the offense,” he said.

Kaiden was Lee's only child.

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