Video After The Jump
Clive, Iowa -- A woman charged with attempted murder for her alleged involvement in a racially motivated hit-and-run reportedly used racial slurs at convenience store employees following the crash.
Clive police charged Nicole Franklin, 42, with attempted murder after she admitted to investigators that she hit 14-year-old Natalia Miranda because she is "Mexican" on Dec. 9.
"From the moment this happened, our officers were out knocking on doors, checking for home video surveillance, checking with bus drivers, anything we could find," Clive Police Chief Mike Venema said.
Venema said investigators received information on a suspect vehicle and learned that a woman in a similar vehicle was arrested at a West Des Moines gas station about an hour after the hit-and-run.
"She walked in and said, 'Hey, sand n*****, pump my gas," said a convenience store employee, who asked not to be identified.The convenience store employee said Franklin started stealing things and vandalizing the store, ripping open food bags and throwing things at him. He said he was not the only person on the receiving end of Franklin's hate-fueled rhetoric.
"Anybody .... a colored person walked in, (and) she was calling them n*****," he said. "'Hey n*****, you going to pump my gas?' That is when I called 911."
Clive investigators spoke with Franklin in the Polk County Jail.
"During the interview, Franklin not only admitted to being the driver of the car that struck this girl, but also that she had done so intentionally," Venema said. "Franklin told investigators that she ran the girl over because, in her words, 'She was Mexican.'"
Venema said authorities are investigating whether Franklin will be charged with hate crimes.
"I want to say in the strongest words, terms possible that there is no place in our community, or any other place for that matter, for this type of hatred or violence," he said.
Franklin is being held on $1 million bail. She is due back in court Dec. 30.
Source: KCCI
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