A woman who drove drunk, then struck and seriously injured a 5-year-old girl riding a scooter at Liberty Station, pleaded guilty this week to DUI charges.

Savannah Monique Taylor, 21, drove her 2018 BMW 335i onto a pedestrian path on Sept. 6, 2025, striking the girl, along with a bench and plants, on Laning Road near the USS Recruit, according to prosecutors.

The girl sustained life-threatening injuries in the incident.

Taylor pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of DUI causing injury and DUI with a blood-alcohol content of over .08%. She also admitted to allegations of inflicting great bodily injury and committing the offense while out on bail in a separate case.

A five-year-old girl is fighting for her life after she was hit by a 21-year-old DUI driver in a courtyard at Southpoint Liberty Station. NBC 7’s Jeanette Quezada spoke to witnesses of the crash. 

A witness, Adrian Aguilar, told NBC 7 what she saw the day it happened.

“I just saw that little girl minutes before she got hit,” Aguilar said. “I’m on the bridge, she’s coming down smiling, laughing, on her little scooter. Her dad, her family, whoever she was with, and then they carried her away in a stretcher.”

Aguilar’a friend Jeff Baratta said he was sitting at the base of the pedestrian bridge when he heard the driver of the BMW revving the car.

“All of a sudden, the car went over the curb, through the courtyard,” Baratta said.

On the ground, tire marks showed the path of chaos. The driver appeared to veer onto a sidewalk before hitting a steel bench, police said.

“She paused for a second when she hit the first bench, like she was stuck, like she was going to get back up or something,” Baratta said. “It was like a one-second pause and then just hit the gas. The car just went smoking through the courtyard here, man.”

The vehicle continued through the bushes, onto another sidewalk and into the little girl, who was on her scooter on the open pedestrian area, before then slamming into a tree, investigators said.

“Hitting the girl was just unbelievable,” Baratta said. “I couldn’t believe it. The father ran and grabbed the girl, who was lying on the ground, and brought her over to the planter, and everybody was just distraught.”

Court documents indicate Taylor is facing a state prison term of 7-9 years during sentencing, which is currently scheduled for June 4.