According to police in Gwinnett County, Georgia, 25-year-old Bakari Warren crashed her SUV into a pole on purpose to prove to her two young children, who were in the vehicle at the time, that God is real.
The not accident happened on Wednesday when Bakari (she was arrested under the name Bahari, but she has prior arrests and a Facebook page under the name Bakari) was reportedly driving her SUV with her 5- and 7-year-old daughters “northbound on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard when she crossed into the southbound lanes and drove head on into a concrete pole,” according to Channel 2 Action News.
Police interviewed the young girls after the crash and they were asked if they thought their mother crashed on purpose. “Yeah because she turned,” one daughter admitted. “Her eyes was closed and she was saying, blah, blah, blah, ‘I love God.’ She didn’t want us to just have a car accident. She wanted us to know that God is real.”
Bakari reportedly told her daughters to buckle their seat belts just prior to the crash. Norcross police Sgt. Eric Butynski says: “When the officers asked the driver of the vehicle what had happened her first statement was to check her Facebook, and it would explain what happened.”
Channel 2 Action News reporter Tony Thomas checked Bakari’s Facebook and found no explanation. We just checked and could find nothing either. We did find lots of photos of Bakari and her daughters, as well as numerous posts referencing God as well as another that condemned people who judged others for their parenting decisions:
Bakari Warren (mug shot photo below) was arrested at the scene and charged with two counts of cruelty to children. She later posted her bond of $11,200 and was released. While she was behind bars, the children were with their grandparents — it is unknown if the children are back with their mother now.
Although there were no reported injuries, Sgt. Eric Butynski says: “It could have been a lot worse. It could have been heavier traffic at the time, she could have hit the pole at such an angle that she did more damage to the car.” Or the people inside — I would assume.
Here is the video report from Channel 2 Action News, which features video footage of the accident as well as police dash cam video of the crash scene, including the girls getting out of the vehicle and being interviewed by police:
As I mentioned above, Bakari does have an arrest history. According to online records, she was arrested in 2010 for theft and again in 2012 for possession of a controlled substance. Here are her prior mug shot photos:
According to online records, Bakari has a court hearing scheduled for March 28.
