Mom arrested after bringing toddler to illegal street race, troopers say

The Florida Highway Patrol dashboard camera video recording from a patrol car shows a father pacing, holding a little boy.  What you don’t see on camera is the little boy’s mother getting arrested, because they say she brought the toddler to a street race in the middle of the night. 

Stephanie Feliciano Torres is charged with child abuse, accused of endangering the child.  Troopers say they found her 2-year-old son sleeping, unrestrained, in the back seat of Feliciano-Torres’ Honda along Lake Nona Boulevard which was parked half way down the racers’ make shift track. 

“That child could have been a projectile out of that vehicle as we've seen in other cases,” said Sgt. Kim Montes. 

In the video, you can see the trooper pulling up to the scene, you can hear engines revving, see cars fleeing the area where the FHP says illegal street racing was underway.  

“The dad miraculously showed up in the area, an area that's not where businesses and stuff are. We don't know what he was doing prior to this incident.  Obviously, we have our suspicions,” said Sgt. Montes. 

Troopers say they're targeting Lake Nona Boulevard every weekend because they know it's a hot spot for illegal racing. Just one week before this arrest, a trooper captured  video of the start of a race.  Sgt Montes says her trooper arrested two of the street racers that night. 

"These are illegal for a reason. Cars can go out of control," she says.  "We've had bystanders killed at previous illegal street races."