A 17-month-old little girl was run over and killed by her mother’s SUV while she was attending her big sister’s 10th birthday party.
Lewiston police said Taneisha Thomas, 27, accidentally struck her daughter, Tiannah Sevey, with her 2004 Mercury Mountaineer around 5pm on Saturday.
Little Tiannah was treated at the scene before being transported to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where she succumbed to her injuries.
Seventeen-month-old Tiannah Sevey (pictured) was accidentally run over and killed by her mother, Taneisha Thomas, 27, as she was backing up her SUV. The child was attending her big sister’s 10th birthday party on Saturday when she tragically died
Little Tiannah was treated at the scene (pictured) before being transported to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where she succumbed to her injuries
Police believe Thomas was backing up when the vehicle hit the child.
Lewiston Police Department spokesman, Lt David St. Pierre, told the Press Herald that investigating officers gave Thomas a blood test following the accident outside the mother-of-three’s apartment at the Pleasant View Acres housing complex.
‘This is going to be a long investigation,’ St Pierre told local media. ‘We still have a long ways to go.’
The blood test is a standard procedure in fatal car crashes and is given to determine whether the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Authorities said the results of the test could take several weeks to process.
As of Monday morning, no charges have been filed against Thomas, who also has a four-year-old daughter.
But the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services have been notified.
In 2013, Thomas was convicted of operating under the influence after hitting a parked car in front of her home. Her blood alcohol level at the time was 0.27 per cent.
Family and friends gathered outside the apartment complex, where the little girl died, and created a makeshift memorial (pictured). A GoFundMe account was also set up by a friend of the family in order to offset funeral costs for the child
She was driving a 2000 Subaru owned by the child’s father, Michael Sevey, at the time.
Thomas is also facing a more recent OUI charge. According to the Sun Journal, Thomas’ license was suspended on August 17 after she was charged with the second OUI.
On Saturday, Thomas was still driving with a conditional license when she struck her daughter. The license is set to expire on October 7.
She is scheduled for a hearing on the license suspension on Thursday.
Family and friends gathered outside the apartment complex, where the little girl died, and created a makeshift memorial.
Photos showed balloons, candles, stuffed toys and flowers all sitting near a lamp post outside the complex.
A GoFundMe account was also set up by a friend of the family in order to offset funeral costs for the child.