Albany

In a matter of seconds, Shanikqua Thomas turned an SUV into a two-ton weapon.

On Aug. 19, as a crowd argued behind a Ford Expedition where she sat as a passenger, Thomas slid over to the driver's side, closed the door and kicked the hulking vehicle hard into reverse. Wheels turned over bodies as though they were speed bumps. One person got caught underneath and was dragged along as Thomas sped in reverse down Elk Street.

Caisha Jackson's pelvis was so badly broken doctors thought she may never be able to have children.

"I remember her revving the engine," Jackson said in a statement read by a prosecutor before Thomas was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for the near-deadly assault. "I try not to think about that day but am constantly reminded because of the physical injury and emotional scars I carry."

When Mary Tanner-Richter, the Albany County District Attorney's Office's Vehicular Crimes Bureau chief, began to read Jackson's statement, Thomas broke down in hysterics. Clutching what appeared to be a Bible, Thomas sobbed uncontrollably, whipped her head down and wailed. Court recessed for 20 minutes so Thomas could gain her composure and hear firsthand the fallout from the assault. But Thomas broke down again during another statement, though Judge Peter Lynch told Tanner-Richter to continue reading on behalf of the victims.

"She tried to take our lives," Asiah Holton's statement read.

Video of the violent attack was obtained by the Times Union Thursday. District Attorney David Soares said it was "one of the most violent videos I have ever seen."

After running over the six women, Thomas then drives over a Saturn sedan, stops the SUV, steps through the door and gazes back at the people laid out on the street.

Thomas smoked crack and marijuana the day of the assault. She was previously convicted of felony cocaine possession in 2007 and has a lengthy history of mental health issues and arrests stemming from violent outbursts.

Victims and prosecutors said Thomas never showed remorse. Thomas, who pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in October, received the maximum sentence under the plea deal.

"Why should the court show her any sympathy when it's apparent she showed none toward her victims?" said Martha Royal, one of the women Thomas struck.

bfitzgerald@timesunion.com • 518-454-5414 • @BFitzgeraldTU