Texas Mom Playing 'Chicken' Runs Over, Kills Son: Prosecutors

HOUSTON — A woman who is accused of killing her 3-year-old son during a fatal game of chicken is in the Harris County Jail. Lexus Stagg, 26, is charged with criminally negligent homicide after she ran over her son with her 2006 Lincoln Navigator at the family’s apartment complex on June 11, prosecutors said.

Stagg, who initially told police that she thought she’d hit a speed bump, was seen on apartment complex surveillance video driving straight into her son in broad daylight, prosecutors said.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Stagg drove forward when her three young children were running toward the front of the vehicle, running over her son and pinning him beneath the SUV’s the right tire.

Stagg drove forward and ran over the child again with the back right tire of the vehicle, which weights approximately 5,600 pounds, prosecutors alleged.

EMS rushed the child to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, prosecutors said.

"Every parent has an obligation to protect their children, even from themselves,” Ogg said. “Cars aren’t toys and playing chicken with your kids isn’t a game.”

Stagg was arrested June 20 and appeared in probable cause court the following morning. Prosecutors requested she be held on $50,000 bail, but a magistrate set Stagg’s bond at $1,500, and she was released.

Stagg was arrested again on Monday after prosecutors demanded that her bond be set higher, officials said.

Stagg is being prosecuted by the Vehicular Crimes Division of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if she is convicted.

“You should be playing Peek-A-Boo with a 3-year-old instead of forcing him to try and dodge a 5,600 pound deadly weapon,” said Sean Teare, chief of the Vehicular Crimes Division.

Send your news tips and story ideas to bryan.kirk@patch.com