The Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office has filed formal charges against a local man accused in the hit-and-run death of 16-year-old Columbus East High School student Lily J. Streeval.
Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian, 25, of 3224 Country Brook St., has been charged with Level 4 felony leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death or catastrophic injury and Level 5 felony passing a school bus when the arm signal is extended causing death, court records stated.
Subramanian, whose bond was set at $1.25 million, was being held in the Bartholomew County Jail. The prosecutor’s office was granted a request that since Subramanian is a citizen of India and in the U.S. on a work visa, he must surrender his passport to the court prior to posting any bond, court records state. He is reportedly a quality control engineer at Faurecia.
A Level 4 felony conviction carries a possible prison sentence of two to 12 years and a fine of up to $10,000. A Level 5 felony conviction carries a prison sentence of one to six years and a fine of up to $10,000.
In a statement released after the charges were filed in Bartholomew Superior Court 2, Prosecutor Bill Nash said under the state and U.S. Constitution (with the exceptions of murder or treason) all defendants are entitled to post bail, which is set by the court, not the prosecutor’s office.
In this case, the prosecutor’s office requested the $1.25 million bond, which is above the standard bond schedule, and was approved by the courts, Nash said. “Our authority over the potential release of the defendant pending trail ended there,” Nash said in a statement.
Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies were sent to 1950 S. Gladstone Avenue at 6:55 a.m. Monday after Streeval attempted to cross Gladstone’s two lanes of traffic to get to her school bus, which was stopped with the stop arm extended and lights flashing in the northbound lane.
Witnesses said a driver, later identified as Subramanian, was driving a Honda southbound toward the northbound bus, disregarded the bus stop arm and struck the teen, then left the scene, according to court records.
Witness Brian Rea, a Columbus resident who was driving a vehicle stopped behind the bus, turned around and notified police he was following Subramanian, who later got stuck in a ditch on County Road 250E, oddly enough in a police officer’s yard, where he was taken into custody.
Formal charges were filed a day after a prayer vigil was held at the scene of the hit-and-run on Gladstone in memory of Streeval, whose funeral was Thursday.
A probable cause affidavit filed with the charges stated that when officers arrived at the scene, they found the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. bus on Gladstone facing north, with Streeval several feet behind the bus on the ground, being attended to by witnesses. BCSC officials and investigators said there were about 20 students on the bus who witnessed the hit-and-run along with the bus driver and Rea.
Multiple personal and clothing items belonging to Streeval were found in the road and behind the school bus, according to court affidavits.
When officers were on their way to the scene, they were told a witness, later identified as Rea, was following the suspect’s vehicle, which was stopped near South County Road 250E and East County Road 275S behind another school bus, court documents state.
Rea told investigators he approached Subramanian and told him that he had hit a child at the bus stop and he was following him. Subramanian then attempted to turn around in a nearby yard to leave the scene and became stuck in an embankment, court documents state.
Subramanian’s white Honda Civic had a shattered windshield, a dented hood and multiple other markings and damage indicating it had been involved in a recent crash, court documents state.
When questioned by police after being read his rights, Subramanian admitted to police that he “hit something” and had seen flashing lights ahead while driving south on Gladstone on his way to work, the court affidavit states.
Accident reconstructionists determined that even though the bus had its red lights flashing and the stop arm extended, Subramanian continued to drive toward the bus without slowing down, then continued without stopping after hitting Streeval in the roadway, court documents stated.
Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting said in an earlier interview that all life-saving efforts possible were undertaken at Columbus Regional Hospital to save the teen’s life, but she was pronounced dead at the hospital. The cause of death ruling was blunt force trauma to the cervical spine and chest with the death ruled a homicide.
During the prayer vigil in memory of Streeval, family members spray painted an orange heart with her initials inside of the heart on the roadway where she had been struck.
Rea, when asked what was going through his mind after seeing the hit-and run, said he knew immediately he would follow the suspect. “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.’ “
