COLUMBUS, Ind. — A Bartholomew County jury has found a Columbus man guilty in the hit-and-run death of a Cummins engineer and severely injuring his wife last year.
Michael DeMaio, 37, 2023 Chandler Lane, was found guilty in Bartholomew Superior Court of four felonies Thursday afternoon in the death of Cummins engineer Ansul Sharma, 30, and severely injuring his wife, Samira Bhardwaj, who was 28 at the time of the accident, which occurred at 7:15 p.m. March 26, 2017.
DeMaio was found guilty of all four charges against him — two counts of leaving the scene of an accident; causing a death when operating a motor vehicle with a controlled substance in his system; and causing serious bodily injury when operating a motor vehicle with a controlled substance in his system.
He was accused of hitting them with his red minivan as the couple was walking in the bike lane on Taylor Road near Four Seasons Retirement Center and then driving the damaged vehicle away erratically, which was observed by a witness who notified police.
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
