Mom and One-Year-Old Baby Die in Jeep Off-Roading Accident

By Detroit Steel - March 12, 2015

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It just doesn’t get sadder than this, in what again is a somber reminder of the dangers that often come with off-roading, even in a vehicle typically as trustworthy as a Jeep.

In an off-roading expedition gone terribly wrong, a 22-year-old Florida mom and her one-year-old baby died of carbon monoxide poisoning after the Jeep they were passengers in got stuck in the mud.

The incident reportedly happened after the Jeep got stuck in a swampy patch of woods near Disney World in Orlando. The area was a popular destination for off-roaders, according to a NY Daily News report.

It appears that when the driver, Taylor Brown, who was the mom’s boyfriend, left to try to get a vehicle to pull the Jeep out of the swamp, he returned to find his girlfriend unresponsive.

The mother, Hallie Lewis, was pronounced dead at the hospital and the infant, Brason Brown, died later at the hospital. According to the report, the carbon monoxide leaked into the Jeep because the exhaust pipes were covered in the mud and the windows were rolled up to keep the occupants warm.

Authorities say Brown (pictured above with Hallie and Brason) had to climb out of the back window of the Jeep (which apparently was a Wrangler) when he was going for help, because the mud was up to the door handles of the SUV.

The incident comes less than five months after a 9-year-old boy died in Florida in an off-road accident where the 1996 Jeep Cherokee he was riding in hit a five-foot-deep, water-filled ditch, as highlighted in a Orlando Sentinel report.

Again, both incidents are unfortunate reminders that we should never, ever let the excitement of off-roading cloud our judgement about the necessary precautions needed to ensure everyone’s safety.