Woman hit by car at North Carolina laundromat lied during police report, officers say

Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Woman filed false report about wreck at laundromat, police say

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A Raleigh woman was arrested Monday after officers said she lied during a police investigation.



The incident happened just before 8 p.m. Sunday at The Wash House on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.



Initial reports state a person driving a Kia drove up on the sidewalk, hit a woman before running into the laundromat and then took off.



WATCH: Raw video shows moment of crash


Raw video: Teen crashes car into laundromat.


The victim was identified as 49-year-old Sabrina Annette Battle. She sustained non-life-threatening injuries.



Battle reportedly told officers that the car was hers and that someone drove it and hit her. Further investigation revealed that the person she reported as the driver was not in fact driving.



Court documents show that she initially told police at the scene that the driver who then took off was her nephew. Police said that is false; it was her 13-year-old son who was driving.





ABC7 Chicago's sister station, WTVD, stopped by Battle's home Monday.



Her daughter defended her mother's actions.



"She's a really good mom. She's nonchalant," the daughter said. "She just wasn't aware. And if she did - she was just trying to protect him."



The daughter said the vehicle involved in the wreck belongs to her.



She said her mother was washing clothes when she saw the son accidentally drive the car into the building.



"I don't know if he just wanted to drive a car," she said. "You know how kids are. They want to be adults. Get in the driver's seat."



Battle was charged with filing a false report to police station, a misdemeanor.



She will appear in court in August.

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