Teen Who Gave Family a Ride Fatally Hit Girl

Montgomery County police said yesterday that they were able to explain the death last month of a 3-year-old girl who received a mysterious injury after the family van was abandoned in Potomac.

The girl was fatally injured when a 16-year-old boy who gave the family a ride accidentally hit her after letting her out of the sport-utility vehicle he was driving, police said yesterday.

The 16-year-old didn't know he had hit Jasmine Afolabi and drove off, police said. No charges will be filed.

Police received a call about 9:30 p.m. June 26 to search an abandoned Toyota Sienna parked along River Road at Maidens Bower Drive in Potomac. Thirty minutes later, a 38-year-old mother and her two young children showed up at a nearby gas station. Employees grew so concerned about the mother's behavior that they called police. The family was gone when officers arrived.

Police said yesterday that the 16-year-old offered the family a ride back toward the minivan. He let the family out at River Road and Spur Wheel Lane in Potomac. Jasmine, her mother and her 4-year-old brother got out.

The teenage driver pulled away, police said, and made a U-turn. That is when the front of the Chevrolet Trailblazer hit Jasmine, knocking her down, police said. Jasmine's mother saw her daughter on the ground but wasn't immediately aware of how seriously she was injured, police said.

The family members received a ride from a different driver, who took them to a fire station in Bethesda. Rescue workers there took Jasmine to Suburban Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

A state medical examiner determined that Jasmine died of an accidental head injury. Montgomery investigators found the drivers who gave the family rides. Police said yesterday that the Potomac teenager came forward willingly.