Police: Iowa Woman Charged With Hit-and-Run of Teen Said She Did It Because Girl Was ‘a Mexican’

Dec 20, 2019
2:53 PM

Here is a troubling story out of Iowa, which was just published on Friday afternoon.

According to KCCI, police from the Iowa city of Clive “say Nicole Marie Poole Franklin, 42, of Des Moines, hit 14-year-old Natalia Miranda with her vehicle and fled the scene.” Police, who arrested Franklin on Thursday for attempted murder, are also saying that it was racially motivated.

“Clive police said investigators determined that the hit-and-run was intentional and that Franklin told detectives she hit the teen because she was ‘a Mexican’ during an interview,” KCCI reported.

KCCI tweeted out about the story here:

It also included an interview with Miranda:

The KCCI report added that Franklin “went on to make derogatory statements about Latinos to detectives” during the interview. Franklin was charged earlier in December for assault “after police said she used racist terms toward a clerk and customers at a West Des Moines convenience store and threw items at the clerk.”

The complete KCCI report is here.

Here is the full press release by Michael G. Venema, Chief of Police, for the Clive Police Department, released on Friday. The KCCI report did identify the victim and did interview her.

On December 9, shortly before 5 p.m., a 14 year old girl was walking on the sidewalk on her way to an activity at Indian Hills Jr. High School. A vehicle left the roadway and ran the girl over. She suffered numerous injuries. The driver and vehicle left the scene without rendering aid to the girl. Earlier, the Clive Police Department requested the public’s help in locating the driver. At that time it appeared to be a hit and run accident.

Yesterday, the Clive Police Department identified the driver of the suspect vehicle as Nicole Marie Poole Franklin, 42, of Des Moines. Detectives interviewed her in the Polk County Jail, where she was being held on other charges. During the interview Franklin not only admitted to being the driver of the car that struck this girl, but also that she had done so intentionally. Franklin told investigators that she ran the girl over because she was, in her words, “a Mexican”. She went on to make a number of derogatory statements about Latinos to the investigators.

Franklin was charged with Attempted Murder and is currently being held in the Polk County Jail. Our detectives will continue to gather information for the Polk County Attorney’s office to assist them with their prosecution.

The family of our victim requests privacy while dealing with this new information. They ask that they not be contacted by the media at this time.

I want to say, in the strongest terms possible, that there is no place in our community (or any other) for this type of hatred and violence. We are committed to stand by and support this family and work diligently with them to seek justice.