“Irresponsible and Frequent”: Texas Mother Sentenced After Letting Drunk Unlicensed Teen Son Drive in Deadly Crash

A Texas mother has been sentenced to two years in prison after giving her car keys to her drunk 14-year-old son, who then struck and killed a 67-year-old bicyclist. The crash happened on July 14, 2024, in Bellmead, near Waco.

Prosecutors said the boy was driving around 1:30 a.m. when he hit the cyclist, Dennis Welch. The impact killed Welch on the spot. The car then crashed into a nearby house.

It was reported that the boy’s 10-year-old sister, who was also in the vehicle, suffered minor injuries. Authorities said the boy’s mother, Erika Martinez-Ramirez, told him to drive his sister to pick up clothes from a nearby house. She handed him the keys despite knowing he was underage and did not have a license.

According to Law & Crime, Martinez-Ramirez was convicted on April 7, 2026, of endangering a child. The McLennan County District Attorney’s Office confirmed a two-year prison sentence.

Prosecutors said this was not the first time the teen had been caught driving. In December 2023, police stopped him while he was driving his mother’s car with other children inside. Officers said that Martinez-Ramirez was aware of her son's driving.

Just weeks later, the boy went back to driving despite warnings. He hit another car and fled the scene. Police later contacted Martinez-Ramirez and warned her of his son’s underage driving. “Allowing her son to drive was unacceptable,” prosecutors said.

However, despite all the warnings, the behaviour did not change. Months later, it ended in a tragic incident and a deadly crash.

Officials said they did not charge Martinez-Ramirez with manslaughter. They stated there was no clear proof she knew her son was intoxicated that night. She initially faced a charge of criminally negligent homicide. However, prosecutors chose a child endangerment charge because it carried the same punishment and was easier to prove.

The case was handled by assistant district attorneys Michaelina Yearty and Duncan Widmann. In a joint statement, they said the case stood out.

“Parents are rarely prosecuted for crimes committed by their children,” they said. “But this mother’s actions were so irresponsible and so frequent that both prosecution and a maximum sentence were warranted.”

Authorities have not disclosed any information about the 14-year-old boy due to his age.