Mom accused of destroying evidence after 14-year-old hit Baltimore officer in stolen car

The 14-year-old thought she “caught a body.”

Shortly after midnight Feb. 15, the girl told her mother, Yolanda Wilkes, she hit a Baltimore Police officer with a car. The officer then shot at her. She was bleeding from her right hand, police reported.

Wilkes did the laundry and found a bullet, which detectives allege she never turned over to police. She also threw away her daughter’s yellow and black jacket after she could not wash out the blood.

When they went to Sinai Hospital, Wilkes, police claim, informed health care workers her daughter fell off a scooter.

On Thursday, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said his office had charged Wilkes, 42, of Hampden, with accessory after the fact, concealing physical evidence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

“No one is above the law,” Bates said. “And anyone who attempts to interfere with the course of justice will be held responsible for their actions.

“If the parents of our young people cannot conduct themselves lawfully, how on earth can we expect our children and our teens to be able to conduct themselves and follow the rules?” he added.

Wilkes has been issued a summons to appear in Baltimore Circuit Court, where she’s scheduled on April 13 to make her initial appearance. It’s unclear whether she’s retained an attorney.

She could not be reached for comment.

Assistant State’s attorneys Paul Crowley and Kirstin Riddle are prosecuting the case.

Officer William Cole had responded to West Lombard Street near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Southwest Baltimore after a man called to report people were trying to break into his home.

Cole arrived at the scene and got out of his SUV.

That’s when police allege the girl hit Cole in a stolen 2015 Kia Optima as she was trying to flee. He fired one time at the car after falling to the ground.

Cole was treated at the hospital for a broken ankle and released. He has not returned to duty, said Lindsey Eldridge, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department.

Officers later arrested the girl and took her to the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center, police reported. She was released on electronic monitoring.

Police also arrested two 14-year-old boys they assert were in the car at the time and had been wearing ankle monitors.

Bates has long vowed to prosecute parents and guardians in certain cases. Public defenders and criminal justice reform advocates have criticized the strategy.

The announcement also came as state’s attorneys across Maryland are pushing back against legislation that would reduce the number of charges that result in teens automatically facing prosecution as adults. Bates is president of the Maryland State’s Attorneys’ Association.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley called the allegations “deeply troubling.”

Parents and guardians, he said, play a critical role in shaping young people.

“Helping a young person evade responsibility does not protect them. It places them on a path that can lead to more serious consequences in the future,” Worley said. “Reinforcing criminal behavior is not acceptable.”