A routine stop across city lines turned tragic early Tuesday, as 34‑year‑old Delyshia LeShaun Molette was arrested on manslaughter charges following a vehicle crash that left one child dead and another hospitalized with life‑threatening injuries. According to jail records, Molette was booked at the Mobile County Metro Jail at 5:35 a.m. after the incident.
Investigators say the sequence began with a reported theft at a commercial property on Schillinger Road in the northern Mobile‑county suburb of Semmes, Alabama. Officers from the city’s police department located Molette walking on Silver Pine Road, but when approached she fled on foot into a wooded area—scratching an officer’s eyes and biting his finger during a struggle, per the department’s report.
Later that night, Molette’s white Infiniti SUV was spotted leaving her residence around midnight. Semmes officers attempted a traffic stop along Schillinger Road as the vehicle headed south, but she refused to stop. A pursuit was initiated. Shortly thereafter, after the Semmes unit disengaged the chase, the vehicle crashed into a light pole at the intersection of Schillinger Road and Howells Ferry Road—within the jurisdiction of the Mobile Police Department.
At the scene around 12:45 a.m., Mobile officers found the crashed vehicle with two juvenile male passengers inside. One was pronounced dead shortly thereafter; the other was rushed to a local hospital with life‑threatening injuries. Molette, the driver, emerged uninjured from the collision.
Authorities say the Semmes department had already terminated the pursuit before the crash. Investigators are now working to piece together the chain of events that led from the earlier theft response to the fatal wreck. The manslaughter charge against Molette reportedly stems from the death of the child in the crash and the severity of the injuries to the other juvenile.
While the names of the young passengers have not been released pending family notification, the community is already grappling with the impact of such a tragedy. Police say Molette threatened employees at the business on Schillinger Road North in the theft case, adding another layer to the unfolding investigation.
The case is still under active investigation, with both departments coordinating evidence collection and a review of policy regarding pursuits. In the meantime, one family has been torn apart by grief, another by critical trauma, and a small community left asking how a night’s events spiraled into such loss.
