When a suspect in the Monday hit-and-run death of Columbus East High School junior Lily J. Streeval fled the scene, a local resident stopped behind the school bus made an instant decision to follow the car that struck her.
Brian Rea, Columbus, who was in a vehicle stopped behind Streeval’s school bus, said he turned around and followed the driver after he realized what had happened.
When asked what was going through his mind when he decided to give chase, Rea said, “He had just hit that kid. And when I looked in my mirror and didn’t see any brake lights, I was like, ‘He’s not getting away. He’s not going to get away with this.’”
Rea, who is an employee of SABIC Innovative Plastics, had been on his way to work Monday morning when he found himself stopped behind the bus. Just before 7 a.m., he saw Lily walking at first across Gladstone toward her bus on the opposite side of the street but lost sight of her because he was behind the bus.
“I heard the God-awfulest noise you’ll ever hear,” he said, “and seen the car flying by. And just the timing of it, I knew exactly what happened.”
Rea turned around and followed the driver, later identified as Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian, 25, of 3224 Country Brook St., as Subramanian fled the scene.
Oddly enough, Subramanian’s vehicle later was found stuck in the yard in front of a police officer’s house on County Road 250E. The officer, who was outside, ran over to the scene and assisted Columbus police and Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies in taking Subramanian into custody.
Lily’s mother, Teri Burbrink, commended the “heroic efforts,” of Rea and the officers who apprehended Subramanian.
Streeval was pronounced dead at Columbus Regional Hospital where Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting said all life-saving efforts possible were undertaken to save her life. The cause of death ruling was blunt force trauma to the cervical spine and chest with the death ruled a homicide.
Investigators said preliminary findings indicate Subramanian’s southbound vehicle was in the 1900 block of Gladstone when he hit Streeval as she was walking eastbound across the two-lane roadway, where the bus was facing northbound. The area is outside Columbus city limits, south of Marr Road.
Rea said he decided to follow the suspect for the teen’s family and the other students on the bus, an estimated 20 kids who witnessed the hit-and-run, according to investigators. Rea said he has children and grandchildren and hopes someone would do the same if one of his family members was in the same situation.
Subramanian remains in the Bartholomew County Jail as the investigation continues, and detectives prepare a case to be turned over to Bartholomew County Prosecutor Bill Nash. The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s department said investigators have requested and received a 72-hour-hold for Subramanian, whose bond has been increased to $1.25 million.
As preparations begin for Streeval’s funeral, Burbrink and Rea mentioned there had been another hit-and-run in which a a 12-year-old girl in Indianapolis, Saleina Marcelus, was critically injured and later died after being struck while crossing the street on the east side of the city last Friday. A suspect has not been identified in the case.
“No one stopped and no one followed,” Rea said, getting choked up. “No one did anything. I just wish that people would step up and do the right thing and not let criminals get away with it.”
