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Mom Drives Go-Kart Through Times Square With 5-Year-Old On Lap, NYPD Says

By Maya Rajamani | May 4, 2016 10:44am | Updated on May 4, 2016 4:07pm
 A woman drove a go-kart through traffic near 52nd Street and Broadway with her 5-year-old daughter on her lap, the NYPD said.
A woman drove a go-kart through traffic near 52nd Street and Broadway with her 5-year-old daughter on her lap, the NYPD said.
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DNAinfo/Patrick Hedlund

MANHATTAN — A mother with a violent past was busted for driving a go-kart through traffic in Times Square with her unsecured 5-year-old daughter on her lap, the NYPD said.

Barbara Davis, 29, was spotted with the child behind the wheel of a battery-powered electric go-kart near West 52nd Street and Broadway on April 27, a complaint filed with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said.

A police officer watched as Davis sped down the street past pedestrians and other vehicles with her daughter sitting on her lap around 8:15 p.m., the complaint said.

Neither Davis nor the child were wearing a helmet or protective equipment, and the go-kart didn’t have seatbelts or reflective lights, the DA’s office said.

After Davis was pulled over, the officer discovered she had a suspended license for previously failing to answer a summons, the complaint said.  

When he and several other officers tried to arrest Davis, she “flailed her arms, went limp and fell to the ground,” prosecutors said.

Once inside a police car, Davis laid down on the seat and kicked out the car’s rear window, causing more than $250 worth of damage, the complaint noted.

She was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment, one count of criminal mischief, one count of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of resisting arrest and two counts of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, the DA’s office said.

Davis is currently being held on $15,000 bail and was expected to next appear in court on Tuesday, city Department of Correction records show.

It wasn’t the first time Davis damaged an NYPD vehicle.

On June 15, she was charged with criminal mischief and harassment after bending a police car's frame by kicking its windows and doors in front of 20 W. 112th St. in Central Harlem, the DA’s office said.

Davis also spit on a police officer after damaging the vehicle, the complaint said. It wasn't clear why Davis was in the police car in the first place.

Less than two weeks later, on June 25, Davis was arrested and charged with assault, attempted assault and harassment after she punched two men in the face inside 22 W. 34th St., a complaint filed with the DA’s office said.

And in September, Davis was arrested again after she struck a man in the face with her hand and fingernails inside 121 Saint Nicholas Ave., cutting his forehead, the DA’s office said.

When police tried to arrest her after the incident, she flailed her body and said “I’m not getting in the car,” according to the complaint.

Once she was in the car, she kicked and broke the rear window with her foot, the DA’s office said.

Davis was charged with two counts of assault, criminal mischief, obstructing governmental administration, attempted assault and harassment after that incident, the complaint said.

She was released on $750 bond less than a week after the September arrest, records show.

An attorney for Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

An Administration for Children's Services spokeswoman said the agency conducts a “full investigation” when it receives a report alleging maltreatment of a child, and usually places the child with a relative “where safe and appropriate.”

She could not provide information about the child’s current location due to confidentiality laws.