Pregnant mother-of-six killed after man ploughs car into her family because he was asked not smoke

A man who allegedly ploughed his car into a pregnant mother and her family after her husband asked him to stop smoking, has been charged with murder, police said.

Melissa DeLoatch was standing with her six children outside a shop in Garnerville, New York, when she was struck by Jason Mendez.

Mendez, had been smoking near them, when her husband Sean DeLoatch asked him to move away.

After the pair got into an argument, Mendez got into his car and drove into the family, before reversing 20 feet and ploughing into them for a second time, police said.

Ms DeLoatch, 32, whose family said was pregnant, was killed.

She put herself between the car and some of her children as she pushed the others out of the way, her brother said.

Her husband and their six children, who ranged in age from 10 months to 10 years old, were injured but are all expected to survive, police said.

“I’m feeling angry, hurt, upset, every emotion there is,” her brother James Christopher said. “She’s a hero, she protected the kids.”

Mendez, 35, has been charged with murder, attempted murder, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest, police said. He pleaded not guilty.

“It was a senseless, tragic incident,” said Captain Martin Lund of the Haverstraw Police Department.

The argument between Mendez and Sean DeLoatch, 35, began with a fight over cigarette smoke, the police said.

“It was possibly the catalyst that set it off,” Capt Lund said.

After the white 2003 Infiniti with Texas license plates ploughed into the family, it crashed into the convenience store, shattering the window, police said.

Mendez was still in his car when police arrived. When officers attempted to arrest him, police said, he threatened them with a razor blade. An officer used a Taser on Mendez after repeatedly ordering him to drop the razor blade, according to court documents.

After the attack, the DeLoatch family was taken to a hospital in Nyack, where Melissa DeLoatch died. Three of the children have been moved to a larger hospital, Westchester Medical Centre, because of their injuries, which are serious but not life-threatening, police said.

Even before the attack, it had not been an easy year for the family.

Melissa DeLoatch wrote on Facebook in August that she and her children had been living in a family shelter and had just raised enough money for a security deposit on a new apartment.

Mr Christopher said things had recently gotten better for the family.

“She was a sister, a wife, a mother,” he said. “She was a loyal, great, all-around person. She would give to anyone.”

Melissa DeLoatch’s cousin, Adrienne Rodriguez, writing on a GoFundMe page, said she had died heroically trying to save her family.

“Melissa did what any mother would have done and tried to protect her children,” Ms Rodriguez wrote. “Melissa was full of love, smiles, life and so much more. All of us are going to miss you.”

The New York Times