Details Emerge in Deadly Lewisdale Car Crash

New details have emerged in last night's tragic incident in Lewisdale where One of the children, the 8-year-old daughter of the driver, died from her injuries. 

According to Prince George’s County Police, the accident in the 2200 block of Hannon Street occurred at 8:47 p.m., when 33-year-old Marianable Cruz-Lopez accidentally struck the five children, ranging in age from two to 11. Two of the children were her own, including the toddler, who had minor injuries, and Natalie Hernandez Cruz, 8, who died.

Three of the victims, the toddler and the 6-and-7-year-old boys, had their medical conditions upgraded from critical to stable, according to police. The 11-year-old boy remains in serious condition. 

Before the incident, police responded to Cruz-Lopez's house for a disorderly landlord-tenant dispute at 8:13 p.m. Police officers investigated the dispute and cleared the scene at 8:40 p.m.

"We're not fully briefed on who is acting as landlord, who is tenant, who is acting as render," said Julie Parker, public information officer for the Prince George's County Police Department. "That's a civil matter which we did not investigate." 

Seven minutes after police left, the tragedy happened. 

The same police officers, who were still in the neighborhood, were sent back to the scene where they found Cruz-Lopez's dark Ford Expedition lodged the garage and two children unresponsive. 

PGPD Lt. David Lloyd told the media in a press conference Thursday that Cruz-Lopez was parked in a driveway with her car facing the street, when she accidentally began accelerating in reverse, striking the five children who were playing in the driveway. The car continued backing up and struck a corner of the garage.

Upon arriving on the scene, police immediately began to render first aid to the victims based on the severity of their wounds. Parker described how Officer Christopher Grimes was able to revive one of the unresponsive victims with CPR.

Cruz-Lopez could face charges in relation to the incident. The state's attorney's office is reviewing the incident, according to Parker. 

According to court records, Cruz-Lopez was recently charged with a number of traffic violations in Montgomery County. On March 30, following a traffic stop on New Hampshire Avenue, Cruz-Lopez was charged with providing a false name to police, failure to display a driver's license to police, driving without a license, failing to use a child safety seat to secure a child under the age of eight, and driving with defective brake lights.

Parker said that Cruz-Lopez does not have a driver's license.

Police say they still believe that drugs or alcohol were not a factor in last night's incident. 

Cruz-Lopez also goes by a number of different names. Initial police reports identified her as Maria. Court records list Cruz-Lopez as "Mariana". Police now identify her as "Marianable".