Crash driver ‘heartbroken’ in deaths of 2 kids
DA fought license return in 2015
A Boston pipefitter accused of killing two young girls in December when her SUV crashed into their family in Revere apologized to the victims’ family, saying she is “heartbroken.” “I’m heartbroken. I feel horrible,” said Autumn L. Harris, 42, outside Chelsea District Court on Thursday after her pretrial conference. “I’m sorry to the family.” “That’s all I can say, it was an accident,” Harris told reporters. Harris, of Chelsea, has pleaded not guilty to charges of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation and negligent operation of a motor vehicle after she allegedly plowed her SUV into two families walking in Revere on Dec. 9, killing 5-year-old Adrianna MejiaRivera at the scene. Her 2-month-old sister, Natasha Nicole Mejia-Rivera, died days later. Edgar Mejia, the heartbroken father of Natasha and Adrianna, demanded justice for his “babies” last month at a vigil in front of Revere City Hall. “This is the most difficult pain I’ve ever felt in my life, I’ve lost my two babies,” Mejia said in Spanish through tears. Following the Dec. 13 vigil, Mejia knelt at the tire-torn grass median where his daughters were struck to pray alongside his devastated family. The median turned into a makeshift memorial for the girls where mourners left candles, toys and balloons. Police say Harris vaped a cannabinoid oil, drank a beer and was still feeling the effects of a sleep aid and muscle relaxant when she crashed into five people at the intersection of Route 145 and North Shore Road in Revere. “It’s a tragedy that no one ever expects. I remember them always playing and just being happy,” Mirna Cardosa, the girls’ aunt, told the Herald last month. Prosecutors attempted to keep Harris off the road four years ago after her acquittal in a drunken-driving case, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. A motion to restore her license was successful in 2015 — a decision the DA’s office fought, according to the Somerville District Court Clerk’s Office. A GoFundMe page, which was set up by a family friend to cover funeral expenses for the Mejia family, raised more than $55,000 in one month. The page states that the girls will be buried in El Salvador. Harris is due back in court on March 11. The Mejia family could not be reached for comment.