Hit-and-run defendant seeks permission to travel out of state for job interview

Less than six weeks after being denied permission to move to Pennsylvania for a new job, a defendant charged with the hit-and-run death of a Columbus teen now is seeking permission to go to an out-of-state job interview.

Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian, 25, was arrested following the Aug. 30 death of 16-year-old Columbus East High School student Lily J. Streeval. He’s accused of attempting to drive around a stopped Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. bus with warning lights flashing and arm signal extended, accused of striking the victim as she was crossing rural Gladstone Avenue to board the bus.

On Monday, defense attorney Brittney Newland asked Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Kelly Benjamin to allow her client to fly to Iowa for a Jan. 12 job interview for a quality control engineering position, adding he would return the next day.

Collis LLP, a manufacturer located 40 miles northeast of Davenport, Iowa has agreed to pay for the round-trip flight, Newland said. Prior to Streeval’s death, Subramanian worked as a quality control engineer at Faurecia in Columbus.

But when asked whether the Clinton, Iowa corporation was aware of the criminal case Subramanian is facing, both Newland and the defendant said company personnel had not been informed.

Subramanian is charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death or catastrophic injury, a Level 4 felony, and passing a school bus when arm signal is extended causing death, a Level 5 felony. If convicted on both counts, the defendant could be sentenced to up to 18 years in prison, as well as ordered to pay fines of up to $20,000.