3-year-old, parents having Father’s Day lunch when deadly Beachwood crash happened

BEACHWOOD, Ohio (WJW) - An 18-year-old Euclid woman is facing criminal charges for causing a horrific accident that claimed the life of a three-year-old girl. The suspect's father is also facing charges because police said he lied and told them he was driving at the time. Beachwood police said it was on Sunday afternoon that a couple and their three-year-old daughter were enjoying Father's Day lunch on the patio of City Barbeque along Chagrin Boulevard. The parents reported that at 1:33 p.m., an SUV began backing up into a parking space next to the patio. "And then all the sudden, it rapidly accelerated and went through a metal fencing into the area where the family was sitting. Three people were struck, one being the child, and the two adults," said Beachwood Police Chief Daniel Grispino. When police arrived, the three-year-old girl was being held by her distraught father. Tragically, she suffered severe injuries and was later pronounced dead at Hillcrest Hospital. Her parents were treated for relatively minor injuries and are devastated by the loss of their daughter. "I mean, it's just a horrific event, on Father's Day. A three-year-old child, it's something that no parent should have to experience and they did everything they could for that little girl and it's something nobody should have to experience," said Grispino. Investigators said the driver of the SUV was 18-year-old Jasmine McFadden, of Euclid, and the passenger was her father, 61-year-old Kenneth McFadden, also of Euclid. Authorities said Jasmine McFadden does not have a driver's license, and police said after the accident, Kenneth McFadden lied to officers about who was behind the wheel. "After the crash, the vehicle had pulled off and parked in another parking spot, and when the officers engaged him, Kenneth McFadden had stated that he was driving the vehicle," said Grispino. However, investigators said surveillance video from cameras outside the restaurant confirmed that Jasmine McFadden was indeed behind the wheel and that her father was the passenger. Jasmine McFadden has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, and Kenneth McFadden has been charged with obstructing official business and wrongful entrustment. "So the obstructing official business is basically the falsification, statements impeding the investigation when the officers are trying to determine what actually happened. He provided false information. The wrongful entrustment is that he had specific knowledge that she did not have a valid driver's license and it kind of highlights the dangers of allowing those that don't have the experience to drive," said Grispino. After appearing in Shaker Heights Municipal Court, Kenneth McFadden and Jasmine McFadden posted bond and were released. The case against Jasmine McFadden will now be presented to a grand jury, which will consider felony charges.