Three young children tragically died by drowning after parents took them on a ride across a flooded creek.
Lacey and Daniel Rawlings were arrested and charged with manslaughter and child abuse after taking their four children along with their nephews and nieces on a ‘joyride’ across a flooded creek in Arizona.
The incident took place back in 2019 when the Rawlings took the kids across the Tonto Creek only for the vehicle to be swept away by rising waters.
After the military-style vehicle lost touch with the ground and became flooded, three children died from drowning. Among the victims were Lacey and Daniel’s 5-year-old son Colby, 6-year-old daughter Willa, and 5-year-old niece Austin.
It has since the tragedy come to light that the couple ignored barricades and warning signs and decided to cross the creek despite the evident danger.
Mr. Rawling allegedly crossed the same creek with his vehicle two times earlier that day. During the third try when the vehicle was full of children, however, the car lost traction and got carried away by floodwater.
Now, both parents walked free from the court after pleading guilty to manslaughter and expressing regret over their actions and their lack of common sense.
While Lacey was found guilty of child abuse and sentenced to 48 months of probation, Daniel was found guilty of manslaughter and child abuse and sentenced to 60 months of probation.
“I want to start by just saying how much I regret the decision we made that day to cross the creek. It is a mistake I agonize over every single day. I am so incredibly sorry to everyone involved that day for the loss I can never fix,” teary Lacey told the court.
“I wish every day that I could go back and relive and redo the events of that horrific day. Knowing I was the single cause of the reason why [unintelligible] is what I live with every day,” Daniel added.
Meanwhile, the couple’s two surviving children, aged 12 and 13, begged Judge Timothy Wright to go easy on their parents and let them return home together.
Sentencing, Judge Wright acknowledged that the couple had no previous convictions and that they were regretful of their actions. However, he slammed the parents for “failing” the children by trying to be their playmates rather than protectors.
“These defendants failed their children. They failed to protect them, they failed to be adults who said no. Conversely, again, any such leniency the court may exercise today again [are] on behalf of the four surviving victims, these four children have zero fault in this case,” the judge said.
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