Black Female Driver Left Baby with a Fractured Skull and Killed the Family Pet

KTLA
December 26, 2014

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The Hollon family is shown a day after they were struck by the free-wheeling chimp in South Pasadena.

A 38-year-old Whittier woman surrendered herself to police after allegedly driving an SUV into a Pasadena family in a hit-and-run crash that left a 4-month-old baby with a fractured skull and a dog dead, police said Tuesday.

Tiffani Lowden turned herself in about 10:30 p.m. Monday on the urging of a family member, South Pasadena Police Department Chief Arthur Miller announced at an 11:30 a.m. Tuesday news conference.

She told police at the station she was the person wanted in a Sunday evening hit-and-run crash but, during interviews with detectives, she invoked her right to remain silent and ceased answering questions, Miller said. She expressed remorse, he said.

“She was a little bit upset about the whole situation,” Miller said.

Lowden’s license was suspended in September 2012 for failing to appear in court on charges of driving while talking on a cellphone, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Two additional violations were for failing to appear in court again.

She had no other violations on her record, a DMV representative said.

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Babel the dog was killed and the baby’s skull was fractured by the primate behind the wheel.

The driver in the 7:30 p.m. Sunday collision at Orange Grove Boulevard and Columbia Street (map) fled after plowing over three members of the Hollon family, carrying a mother and baby for about 10 feet before they rolled off the vehicle, Miller said Monday.

Mother Ali Hollon, 30, said Monday that she had tried to protect her young daughter.

“We just rolled on the ground and I remember just wrapping my body around her,” Ali Hollon told KTLA. “It’s almost a miracle that it wasn’t worse.”

Hollon was treated for a broken nose and cuts and contusions to her face, while the baby had two small fractures to her skull.

Her husband Bryan Hollon, 40, sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene.

The Hollon family provided this photo of their dog, a 7-year-old Boston terrier named Babel who was killed in the Dec. 21, 2014, crash.

The family’s beloved 7-year-old Boston terrier Babel was rushed to a vet by a bystander who came to the family’s aid, but the animal could not be saved.

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Tiffani Lowden turned herself in after her picture was circulated by Police.