Maryland mom sentenced in DWI car crash that killed 5 children

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A Prince George’s County woman who drove drunk, crashing her car and killing six people – including five children – was recently sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Dominique Taylor, 33, pleaded guilty in September to six counts of vehicular manslaughter for the Feb. 2, 2019 crash in Bowie, Maryland that claimed the lives of London Dixon, 8, and Paris Dixon, 5, both children of Taylor’s, along with their relatives, Zion Beard, 14, Rickelle Ricks, 6, and Damari Herald, 15, from Washington D.C.

None of the children were reportedly wearing seatbelts in the back of the SUV, a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica, according to police, according to Fox 5.

READ MORE: Five children killed in tragic early morning crash in Bowie, MD

Taylor’s passenger, Cornell Simon, 23, of Oxon Hill, died a few weeks later.

Taylor’s blood alcohol level was at least two times the legal limit when she left a house party around 4 a.m. and hit the road, according to Maryland State Police. Authorities say she was also under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash, which happened on Route 301 in Bowie near Pointer Ridge Drive.

Jennifer Rush, Prince George’s County Assistant State’s Attorney, told the judge that first responders to the crash suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from what they saw, according to The Washington Post.

“They all, even the 20-year veterans, described this as the worst scene of their careers,” Rush said. “When we were talking with them, we could see them replaying it in their minds.”

Taylor apologized to her relatives and others gathered in the courtroom for her sentencing. She reportedly told the judge “I don’t even deserve” to be alive.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry… Sometimes I look in the mirror and see this gash on my head and I say ‘I don’t even deserve’ (to be alive),” Taylor told the court.

When Taylor gets out of prison, she will be placed on supervised probation and will have an ignition interlock system placed in her vehicle, reported CBS Baltimore.

She faced a maximum of 30 years in prison.