WCSO: Mom drove car into Boone Lake with toddler inside, charged with attempted murder

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — A Johnson City woman faces an attempted first-degree murder charge for allegedly driving her car intentionally into Boone Lake Saturday afternoon with her toddler inside.

Kalyna Young, 21, is also charged with felony reckless endangerment, driving under the influence and aggravated child abuse and neglect related to the incident, according to a Washington County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) news release. A WCSO report states that Young and the child were unharmed and the toddler had been released to a relative.

An affidavit from Deputy Jason Hammonds says he responded to a vehicle crash with injuries at 674 Oak Grove Road and learned when he arrived that a vehicle was submerged with a child possibly trapped inside. After Hammonds got into the water and began striking the driver’s door with his baton, witnesses yelled to him that the child and driver were safe and on land.

An EMS worker arrived and checked Young and her daughter, clearing them medically, Hammonds wrote. The worker told Hammonds that Young had told him she’d driven into the lake intentionally, saying, “I’m going through a lot right now, and I just want to be with my daughter and God.”

Hammonds then spoke to Young himself, he wrote, and she confirmed what she’d told the EMS worker and added that she’d drunk a “Steel beverage” (a higher-alcohol malt liquor) she’d bought from a gas station about an hour earlier. Hammonds reported finding two Steel cans inside the vehicle.

Officials made a referral to the Department of Children’s Services, after which the child was given to the grandmother.

The news release says witnesses had pulled Young and the child from the car shortly before deputies arrived.

Young is being held without bond in the Washington County Detention Center and has an initial court appearance Monday afternoon.

This is a developing story.

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