NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – The mother who reportedly drove her car into a pond with her three children inside said she didn’t remember anything about the incident, according to court documents obtained by 10 On Your Side.
The court documents reveal new information about an incident in Newport News on Monday night when a report came in about a car sinking in a pond with children inside.
Police said Reality Goodwin drove her car into a retention pond, got out and then left her car. A criminal complaint indicates that inside her green Kia Soul were her 2, 4 and 7-year-old kids. According to police, bystanders got into the water, cut the kids’ seatbelts off and removed them from the car.
Witnesses pointed out Goodwin, who was wearing a soaking-wet blue shirt, according to the court documents.
Police spotted her going up to the third floor of an apartment building and knocking on the door.
An officer wrote in the criminal complaint that she was “attempting to have someone come to the door while her juveniles were with strangers across the parking lot.”
She was put in a police car, where an officer noted a strong smell of alcohol. The officer wrote that “she spoke in a slurred manner.”
Court documents stated that officers tried to relocate her and that’s when she kicked an officer’s forearm. Police rolled down the window to talk with her and she spit at an officer.
Goodwin was taken to a local hospital before heading to the Newport News City Jail.
She kicked and spat on another officer, the court documents stated.
Goodwin is charged with drunk in public, reckless driving, assault and battery of a law enforcement officer and three counts of child endangerment.
She’s being held without bond.
On her checklist for bail determination, the document lists her prior criminal record. It said the mother had a driving while under the influence charge in 2018.
The court documents also stated that she worked for a Hampton child development center since January 2023.
A representative at the daycare told 10 On Your Side she was terminated last Thursday because she called off too much.