"I couldn't believe it. I thought she'd make it. But they were driving too fast," he said.
"She was a very happy girl, liked to talk a lot, talk to people ... a very happy little baby and our family misses her very much, we don't know what to do, it's very sad."
Mr Toleafoa added: "We are a very close family. We don't know who to blame really, the police were just trying to do their job, we don't really know how they handled it, we are just trying to get over it and take it from here."
Tatiana's mother, Helena, is a single mother of nine, who is thought to have been a contestant on the X Factor program.
Tatiana's siblings suffered only minor injuries, and were treated for scratches and bruises.
Police at the scene of the crash. It is not known at this point if the car that struck the 17-month-old girl was being driven by police or the suspect. Photo / Nine News
Police had followed the car into a cul-de-sac, when the driver ran down a garden fence and drove into a backyard near where the children were playing.
The Audi was being chased by five police cars, but police have yet to forensically confirm which vehicle struck the child.
Neighbour Raymond Nair said the impact occurred on the street, not in the backyard.
Mr Nair, who lives two doors up from the family home, watched on in shock and told of how he saw members of the family run out of the home, crying out loud.
"The kids ran inside and called the mum and they ran outside and saw her there," he said. "I came out and saw the Audi and then the undercover cop car with the siren on and four other police cars behind them."
Mr Nair said the Audi went through the small and usually quiet culdesac at high speed. "The Audi went straight through the fence and then the backyard and the fence into the park and the kids were playing out the front, on their bicycles you know," he said.
"Then I heard the bang and I went and saw the little kid on the floor and bleeding and everything and then I went and asked if I could help but the police said, 'no, it's a crime scene', so they I did what they told me and backed off.
"Then I was standing there for a while and I was in shock with the little girl just there. I couldn't believe what I saw in this street. Why a chase like this in this street?"
Police have established a critical incident investigation to look at all circumstances surrounding the incident, including the pursuit. The investigation will be overseen by the Professional Standards Command.
A 22-year-old woman, reportedly a passenger in the Audi, was arrested in inner-city Sydney and will appear in court.
Police claim she was searched and found in possession of prohibited drugs.
She was taken to Kings Cross Police Station and charged with supplying a prohibited drug and two counts of possessing a prohibited drug.
Police also executed six outstanding warrants for offences including; armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, affray, stealing, possessing housebreaking implements, possessing a prescribed restricted substance, using a false document to influence exercise of public duty, and two counts of goods in custody.
- Daily Mail
