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Woman Who 'Nodded Off' While Driving Sentenced For Crash That Killed Killed A 5-Year-Old Girl And Her 2-Month-Old Sister
Autumn Harris admitted to negligent misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide for a 2018 crash that took the lives of Adrianna Mejia-Rivera and her baby sister Natasha Nicole Mejia-Rivera in Massachusetts.
A Massachusetts woman was sentenced to roughly four years in prison for causing a crash that resulted in the deaths of two young girls.
Autumn Harris, 43, of Beacon Hill, pleaded guilty over Zoom during a change of plea hearing Tuesday, Mass Live reports.
Harris caused a December 2018 crash that immediately took the life of 5-year-old Adrianna Mejia-Rivera and left her 2-month-old baby sister Natasha Nicole Mejia-Rivera in critical condition, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said in a 2018 press release. The baby died a few days later as a result of the crash, the Associated Press reported at the time.
The sisters were two of five people hit when Harris lost control of her 2015 Chevrolet Equinox. It left the roadway and struck a group of five people on a sidewalk.
“She allegedly stated that she had consumed one beer earlier in the afternoon, that she had taken prescription and over-the-counter medication to help her sleep the night before, and that she had only slept two hours before working all day yesterday,” the press release stated, adding that she also admitted to vaping CBD oil.
She told investigators “that she might have nodded off at the wheel,” according to the press release.
Harris pleaded guilty to two counts of negligent misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide on Tuesday.
The judge gave her four and a half years behind bars, with six months suspended. She will be on probation for four years after her release and will lose her license for 15 years. She will be subjected to random alcohol and drug testing by the Massachusetts Probation Department, according to Mass Live.
