Chasing her boyfriend, she hit the brakes — and her toddler hit the windshield, police say

When the chase ended, 20 inches of the windshield on the car had been shattered — and wisps of blonde hair were dangling from the shards of glass, Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies told ABC Action News.

Those strands of hair belonged to the 3-year-old child who had been riding in the car with her mother, Justine Olesky, 33, at the wheel, according to police reports reviewed by ABC Action News. The 35-pound toddler’s head had flown straight into the windshield of the car Olesky was driving on Sunday, police say, when Olesky slammed on the brakes as she sped after her boyfriend outside of St. Petersburg, Fla.

Olesky has been arrested and charged with child abuse, according to the Associated Press.

Olesky had been driving as fast as 90 miles an hour through residential Florida streets, neighbors told ABC Action News. The car chase allegedly began after Olesky got into a dispute with the boyfriend in front of the 3-year-old.

But when the boyfriend took off by foot following the altercation Sunday afternoon, the New York Daily News reports, Olesky allegedly grabbed the girl and pursued him in the car.

The young girl was unbuckled and without a car seat in the front passenger seat — so, when Olesky saw the boyfriend and slammed on the brakes mid-chase, her daughter was ejected, deputies told ABC Action News.

Seat belts and car seats are among of the easiest ways to keep children safe in vehicles, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and not using them can have deadly consequences.

Car seat usage for kids between the ages of 1 and 4 alone can cut their risk of death in passenger vehicles by 54 percent, the CDC reports. And in 2015, 35 percent of the children under 12 who died in car accidents weren’t buckled up, according to the CDC.

Luckily, the 3-year-old in Florida didn’t sustain serious injuries, according to AP.

But Olesky did not seem worried about the child’s well being when she spoke with police, the police report reviewed by AP said.

Olesky kept talking about the boyfriend, even when police tried to broach the subject of the child, who had just struck and shattered the car’s windshield, ABC Action News reports.

Olesky was booked by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday, and also faces charges of domestic battery, according to jail records.

She’s being held at $12,500 bond, jail records indicate.

Olesky was arrested in 2010 and charged with domestic battery of a person over 65. She also faced charges for obtaining oxycodone by fraud, and for trafficking the drug. Olesky was sentenced to time served in those incidents, according to jail records.

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Chasing her boyfriend, she hit the brakes — and her toddler hit the windshield, police say."