OCALA —
A 28-year-old Marion County woman has been charged with DUI and child neglect after crashing into a tree with her two young children inside her car, including an autistic 2-year-old boy who was sitting on her lap.
Ocala police arrived late Saturday at the intersection of Southwest 10th Street and Southwest 27th Avenue to find Erica Peluso, 28, trying to remove her 6-year-old child from the back seat of her Chevy Malibu, which was severely damaged after hitting the tree.
Police said a teenager who witnessed the crash, 18-year-old Ashton Johns, was holding Peluso’s 2-year-old, whom Peluso said was autistic. Johns said the 2-year-old was in Peluso’s lap at the time of the crash.
