Vehicular manslaughter charges filed against mother after accident that killed her young children

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A sworn complaint has been filed against Christina Shantell Gordan, 29, for two counts of vehicular manslaughter after her two young children, who were unrestrained, were killed in a July crash.

Gainesville Police Department’s investigation found that at about 6:07 a.m. on July 10, Gordan was driving her vehicle westbound on SW Williston Road when a vehicle turning left onto I-75 failed to yield to Gordan’s vehicle, causing the crash. Bystanders who arrived immediately after the crash reportedly found a six-month-old infant on the driver’s side floorboard between Gordan’s legs, and Gordan reportedly told the witnesses there was a second child, a 22-month-old, who was found on the front passenger floorboard. The two children were trauma-alerted to UF Health Shands and later succumbed to their injuries.

No child seats were found in the passenger compartment of Gordan’s vehicle, and one infant car seat (without a base) was reportedly found in the trunk. The front driver and front passenger seatbelts were locked in the retracted position, leading investigators to conclude that none of the occupants were wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.

Gordan reportedly told an officer at the scene that she was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, and she said she put both children in the front passenger seat without a seatbelt.

Post Miranda, Gordan reportedly said she had just passed McDonald’s on Williston Road and was headed “toward Archer” when she was hit, and she said that both children were in the front passenger seat with the seatbelt on, but GPD’s investigation found that this was incorrect, based on the evidence in the vehicle and Gordan’s statements, which were captured on an officer’s body-worn camera.

The investigation found that the infant was probably sitting on Gordan’s lap at the time of the crash, and the toddler was probably in the passenger seat, unrestrained.

According to a witness who was interviewed later, Gordan owned car seats for the children and normally transported the children in the vehicle she drove on the day of the accident.

The investigation found that Gordan caused the deaths of the children by culpable negligence by not securing them in child safety seats. The investigation concludes, “[Gordan’s] failure and omission to secure the [victims] in car seats in the rear of the vehicle, as dictated by state law, led to catastrophic injuries, resulting in death from a car crash.”

A warrant for Gordan’s arrest has not been issued, and Gordan has not been arrested.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.