An Oahu Circuit Court judge Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old woman to 20 years in prison for running over 19-year-old Nehlia-Ann Scanlan on Aug. 7, 2021, after a fistfight outside a Keeaumoku Street bar.
Although Tomanu Tauala was indicted on the charge of second-degree murder, she pleaded guilty Aug. 30 to the lesser charge of manslaughter and admitted to recklessly killing Scanlan, the mother of a then-3-year-old boy, by running her over with her SUV.
Deputy Prosecutor Anna Ishikawa asked the court to sentence her to the maximum 20 years’ imprisonment.
Tauala asked for probation, but Judge Kevin Souza sentenced her to 20 years.
Tauala was initially arrested on suspicion of first-degree attempted murder since she struck two women. But she was charged and later indicted with second-degree murder, which carries a sentence of life with the possibility of parole.
Police said Tauala had been fighting with a group of people at about 12:50 a.m. in the parking lot outside the Imua Lounge at 815 Keeaumoku St. But the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed it was Tauala’s hanai sister who got into a fight with Scanlan.
Tauala’s attorney, Michael Green, said his client was not in a fight with anyone, but was a passenger in a Nissan SUV and tried to leave the parking structure when “a drunken mob of girls” approached, and Scanlan punched out the SUV’s windshield.
Tauala’s hanai sister got out of the back seat, confronted Scanlan and was mobbed by five to six women, Green said. After the male driver fled, Tauala got behind the wheel to try to flee the mob when she struck her own hanai sister and Scanlan.
At least one witness recorded a video on his cellphone of the fight.
Tauala then got into the silver Nissan SUV and drove toward the group at a high rate of speed, striking two women in the parking lot, Scanlan and a 30-year-old, Tiare Tagaloa, according to witness reports and police in court records.
The two were trapped under the SUV, so firefighters used pneumatic lifting bladders to lift the vehicle off them.
Scanlan was taken in critical condition to a hospital where she died Aug. 8, 2021. The other woman was taken in serious condition to the hospital.
“I am very pleased with Judge Souza’s sentence in this case,” said Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm in a news release. “What started as a fistfight between two people turned into a deadly situation due to Tauala’s actions, and Honolulu’s streets will now be safe from her dangerous behavior.
“Although nothing can bring back Nehlia Scanlan, I hope that this sentence brings some comfort and closure to her family,” he said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story did not include that the Prosecutor’s Office and Tauala’s attorney said Tauala was never involved in the fight. It was her hanai sister and Scanlan who were fighting. A Jan. 5 Prosecutor’s Office news release incorrectly said Tauala and Scanlan had fought.
