LEWISTON — The Bureau of Motor Vehicles has suspended the license of a woman who ran over her toddler last weekend, killing her.
The three-year suspension stems from an Aug. 13 OUI arrest in Auburn. It is not related to last weekend’s accident.
Taneisha Thomas, 27, of 50 Fairmount St. in Lewiston, did not attend Thursday’s hearing, but was represented by her attorney, Adam Sherman.
On Aug. 13, Thomas was charged with OUI after being stopped on Turner Street in Auburn. Her license was suspended at that time, but the BMV later agreed to delay the suspension pending the outcome of the hearing.
Thomas has one prior conviction for OUI, stemming from an accident in 2013.
Thomas was driving on a conditional license, which prohibited her from consuming any alcohol, Saturday evening when she struck her 17-month-old daughter Tiannah Sevey outside their home at Pleasant View Acres.
No limit had been set on when or where Thomas could drive.
BMV Assistant Director Susan Cole, who presided over the hearing, said the three-year suspension reflected the fact that Thomas was a second offender with a prior OUI within 10 years. That was the reason Thomas was prohibited from drinking and driving in August.
Auburn Detective Nicholas Gagnon, who stopped Thomas during the August OUI, said Thursday she had failed a field sobriety test after he pulled over her car for a faulty exhaust. Her car had also been “drifting” in its lane, he said.
Gagnon wrote in his report that she had watery eyes, slow speech and an odor of intoxicants. She admitted that she had consumed two beers, he said. A breathalyzer test showed she had a .21 percent blood alcohol content, more than twice Maine’s legal limit of 0.08.
Thomas was charged with criminal OUI, a Class D misdemeanor, punishable by up to 364 days in jail, stemming from the Aug. 13 stop. She also was charged with operating beyond license condition or restriction, a Class E misdemeanor. Her next scheduled court date is in January.
The Lewiston police investigation into the toddler’s death is continuing, but police have said it’s unlikely she will be charged in connection with that accident. The results of a blood test for alcohol content taken after Saturday’s crash have not yet been reported from the lab, police said.
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