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Police say a Des Moines, Iowa woman who ran over a teen girl because she “was a Mexican” has also been charged in another attempted murder case, charged with hitting a 12-year-old Black boy on the same day.
The woman, Nicole Poole Franklin, admitted to intentionally running over a 14-year-old girl, Natalia Miranda, in her car. She was charged with attempted murder last week after the hit, which followed her making “a series of derogatory statements about Latinos,” CNN reports.
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Police in Iowa now say that before Nicole Marie Poole Franklin targeted a 14-year-old girl with her SUV, she also struck a 12-year-old black child in Des Moines https://t.co/zTlmRqY3Pz
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) December 24, 2019
The 14-year-old wounded in the attack by Franklin states she was walking to school. According to KCCI, she has no returned to school after being in the hospital to take care of her injuries.
“I didn’t do anything,” Miranda said. “I’m just a girl just walking to a basketball game.”
Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said before Franklin hit the 14-year-old, she hit the 12-year-old Black boy by jumping a curb. She ran over the boy’s leg and fled the scene. He sustained minor injuries from the attack.
CNN details an hour-and-a-half after hitting the girl, Franklin would use racist slurs at a clerk at a West Des Moines store then throw things at him. The clerk noticed that she was stealing from the store. That incident resulted in an assault, theft and public intoxication charges. Franklin would detail to officers she smoked meth within the past five hours.
The Des Moines Adult Public Defender’s Office has withdrawn from Franklin’s case, but she will receive a new attorney during her hearing for the first attempted murder charge on December 30.
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“Looking at the three incidents collectively, the hate-filled motivation is apparent,” Sgt. Parizek said in a statement received by email.
“There is no place in our community (or any other) for this kind of hatred and violence,” Clive, Iowa Police Chief Michael Venema said in a statement.