Mom blames husband after driving kids into ocean

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The first thing a pregnant South Carolina woman said after driving a minivan carrying her three young children into the ocean surf off Florida was that she was abused by her husband, according to a police report released Monday

A Daytona Beach safety officer asked 32-year-old Ebony Wilkerson if she was injured after she swerved the car into the ocean last week. Wilkerson responded with the abuse allegation, according to the report from Volusia County Beach Safety.

Wilkerson is jailed, with bail set at $1.2 million. She faces three counts of attempted murder and three counts of child abuse.

Bystanders and officers helped pull her and her children — ages 3, 9 and 10 — from their minivan as it was almost submerged.

One of the children told another officer that their mother was “sleepwalking,” according to the report.

Another beach safety officer reported Wilkerson looked fatigued and her speech was confusing when he interviewed her in the hospital where she had been taken. When Officer David Vania asked what had happened, Wilkerson told him “she had endured 14 years of agony with her husband,” the report said.

Wilkerson’s father told the officer that Wilkerson was a good mother. He said Wilkerson’s sister had taken her to a hospital for a mental evaluation the day before but Wilkerson had checked herself out against the staff’s medical advice, the report said.