Woman charged with driving car into yard where teens were playing basketball

A North Carolina sheriff’s office has filed charges against a white woman who allegedly drove her car into a yard where three Black teenagers were playing basketball and threatened them with a knife. 

The Pitt County Sheriff’s Office said in a Monday press release that officers the day before had responded to a report of a minor “having been intentionally hit by a car.” 

Authorities said that Daina Renee Forrest of Greenville, N.C., had been driving a vehicle in the area, “waving a kitchen knife, while cursing and threatening the three juvenile teenage victims who were playing basketball in their yard,” according to the news release. 

Police said that the 35-year-old woman then allegedly “intentionally veered her car off the roadway and partially into the yard to strike the children.” 

The sheriff’s office said that one of the three minors was injured and was taken to the hospital by first responders.

Sgt. Lee Darnell, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, told The Associated Press that the teen’s injuries appeared to be minor.

Police said in the press release that the front of Forrest’s car had damage believed to have resulted from the Sunday incident. 

Upon searching the vehicle, authorities said they found “a knife consistent with the previous story, a bag of crack cocaine, and marijuana filled cigars.” 

While Darnell confirmed to the AP that the three teenagers were Black and Forrest was white, he added that he did not believe the attack was racially motivated. 

“I don’t believe it was a race hate crime, no,” he said. 

The Hill has reached out to the sheriff’s office for additional information. 

The office in its press release said Forrest was charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, as well as felony possession of cocaine. 

The news release said that Forrest was being held on a $230,000 bond, and jail records indicated that she was still in custody as of Tuesday. 

It was not clear if Forrest has an attorney representing her in the case.