Grandmother who drove 11 miles after grandson’s fatal fall on I-97 faces prison

A grandmother who drove 11 miles after her 7-year-old grandson fell out of her rear car window and died on Interstate 97 faces prison, the Office of the State’s Attorney for Anne Arundel County said Thursday.

An Anne Arundel Circuit Court jury found Lorraine O’Neill, 68, of Hagerstown, guilty of neglect of a minor Wednesday, after a four-day trial.

The verdict carries a sentence of up to five years incarceration and a fine of up to $5,000. O’Neill’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 2.

“This case is a tragic reminder that adults must remain vigilant when children are in their care,” State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said in the statement. “While this was undoubtedly a traumatic loss for this grandmother, it was likewise traumatic for the witnesses at the scene that night.”

The incident occurred on Nov. 24, 2024, as O’Neill traveled north on I-97 in Millersville. Her grandson was in the rear seat on the passenger side of O’Neill’s 2011 Mazda 3. While driving near Benfield Boulevard, the child fell from the car’s rear passenger window and landed on the road. An oncoming car struck him after he fell.

Leitess said two men stopped and pulled him off the highway.

Maryland State Police responded to calls of a pedestrian lying in the roadway. Emergency medical personnel who responded declared him dead at the scene.

O’Neill told police that she pulled into to the nearest gas station after noticing her grandson was missing in the area of Interstate 695 and Route 2 in Glen Burnie.

The distance between where he fell and where she stopped was about 11 miles.

O’Neill told police that she had allowed her grandson to play with the car’s rear window and that the child lock was not engaged at the time of the incident.

Her attorney, Andrew Jezic, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday afternoon.

“This case has always been about accountability for the death of a child,” Leitess said.