West Valley mom accused of driving through park, injuring a child, while her kids were in truck

PHOENIX – A woman was arrested Tuesday for allegedly driving her pickup truck through a West Valley park and hitting a child after she thought her kids were being bullied, authorities said.

Brandie Alexandria Gotch, 30, was taken into custody at her home around 4:30 p.m., shortly after the incident at Westgreen Park on 87th Avenue between Olive and Northern avenues, according to court records.

Gotch allegedly got into an altercation with multiple juveniles and went on a rampage after taking her four kids to their neighborhood park.

“This is still an active investigation with numerous interviews and witnesses statements still being processed,” Officer Zach Lekan of the Peoria Police Department told KTAR News 92.3 FM in an email Thursday.

What led up to incident involving kids at Peoria park?

After her arrest Tuesday, Gotch told police she confronted a group of juveniles at the park for throwing wood chips at her kids. She also said her kids have had problems with bullying at school and she thought it was continuing at the park, according to the probable cause statement for her arrest.

The confrontation escalated, and Gotch allegedly pulled a 14-year-old boy’s hair and threatened another juvenile while wielding a sharp stick, according to witnesses who showed video of that part of the incident to police.

“Brandie was then seen going back to her vehicle, which was now occupied by her four children, and aggressively backed her vehicle towards the exit, but instead of exiting she drove forward, at a high rate of speed, towards the playground area where at least 15 juveniles were standing,” the probable cause statement says.

That’s when Gotch allegedly ran over a girl’s ankle, causing lacerations and swelling, before driving out of the park and to her home. Police were able to track Gotch down through the license plate on her Chevrolet Silverado.

Charges against Brandie Gotch explained

Gotch was booked into jail on one count of attempted first-degree murder and multiple counts of endangerment, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault on a minor. Her bond was set at $250,000.

The murder charge is for hitting the girl with her truck, and the assault charges stem from Gotch’s other interactions with children at the park, according to court documents.

The endangerment charges are for driving recklessly through the park with her children in the truck without seatbelts.

Gotch’s kids told police “they were unrestrained and were bouncing all over the vehicle,” the probable cause statement says.

Follow @kstonezone