Pregnant mother says illegal street racer in Tacoma hit her car with baby in the backseat

TACOMA, Wash. - A pregnant mother is home recovering after an illegal street racer crashed into her car, while she and her one-year-old daughter were inside.

The incident happened Friday night in Tacoma at the intersection of E 44th St and E Portland Ave. Dark tire marks are still burned into the pavement.

"Terrible night of my life," said Lateasha Smith.

The mother of three said she and her baby girl were driving home from the Tacoma Zoo Lights experience Friday night. Smith said she and her daughter were forced to take a different route home that night because a road was closed on their normal route. The mother explained they were about one minute from home when they approached a street racing flash mob at the intersection.

"I ran into this whole crowd. I didn’t know what was going on. I rolled my window down, talked to one of the kids. I said ‘Hey, I have a kid in my back seat, I’m pregnant, I’m just trying to get home.’ He said ‘Okay, you have your kid in the backseat, you’re pregnant, let’s get you out of here.’ I said ‘Okay.’ He told his friends he was going to tell them to stop," said Smith.

Smith said just as the crowd was parting for her to drive through, street racers began spinning in circles around her.

"They all stopped spinning for a second, told me that I could get through and everything, they were going to let me through. They proceeded to lie to me and set me and my daughter up for failure," said Smith.

She said a yellow Camaro crashed into her driver’s side, but she instantly checked on her baby girl first.

"It unlocked the car seat, that’s how hard we were hit, and it went sideways," said Smith. "I turned around, she was sideways, crying that she was hurt."

Smith, who is several weeks pregnant, said she immediately felt sharp pain in her stomach. She was hospitalized for three nights.

"There is a risk of me losing my baby from being impacted. And it’s very unfortunate, because I’ve had lots of miscarriages in my life and ectopic pregnancies, and I really don’t deserve this," said Smith. 

The mother said doctors believe her daughter was unharmed, though she will be monitored for possible whiplash. Smith, however, has multiple injuries, including a concussion.

"The back of my neck—I can’t rotate anything, nothing at all. I barely have movement in my legs from how hard I was impacted because he hit me on my driver’s side," she explained. "I have a muscle spasm that’s about this big in the back of my spine right now. I have to get my spinal cord looked at. My stomach is just in a lot of pain all over. So, we don’t know if it’s because it’s a miscarriage or not. When we took the ultrasound, we couldn’t find my baby, and it was very unfortunate, it hurt me a lot."

Smith said for the next several days into weeks, she will have appointments to check the status of her pregnancy, her spine, and other injuries.

Though she said she and her daughter are lucky to survive a crash like that, Smith is not holding back her disgust for the illegal street racers that put their lives at risk.

"You guys are putting danger out in the streets. For what? You guys say you want a better world, but you’re causing it to not be a better world. You’re making it where police don’t want to come out half the time because it’s for nonsense. And then you guys make it where police look like the bad guys, when in reality, who’s really the bad guy? When you’re causing the nonsense that people have to call 911 on you," said Smith.

Tacoma Police said an officer arrived at the intersection to gather information on the incident and is under investigation. Smith said detectives are searching for the yellow Camaro from that terrifying night.

"I just want justice for me and my daughter. I want you to at least get your license taken away, say you were in the wrong. You knew my kid was in the back seat, they all did because I told them," said Smith. "I’ll go to court if I have to."