Lily Streeval
The man accused in the August hit-and-run death of a Columbus East High School student is having a private accident reconstructionist company examine the school bus involved in the incident.
Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian, 25, Columbus, is scheduled to appear in Bartholomew Circuit Court at 10:30 a.m. Monday for a change of plea hearing.
Subramanian is accused of attempting to drive around a stopped bus on South Gladstone Avenue at about 6:55 a.m. on Aug. 30 while the bus warning lights were flashing and the stop arm signal was extended. He is accused of striking 16-year-old Lily Streeval as the East student was crossing the road to board Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Bus 213, a probable cause affidavit states.
Streeval was pronounced dead at Columbus Regional Hospital of blunt force trauma to the cervical spine and chest. Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting ruled the death as a homicide.
When Subramanian attempted to flee, witness Brian Rea called police and followed the suspect’s southbound car, according to court documents. The pursuit ended when Subramanian’s Honda got stuck in a ditch on County Road 250E and he was taken into custody, according to court affidavits.
Two Indianapolis attorneys representing the defendant – James H. Voyles and Brittney Newland – asked for and received permission to have a accident reconstruction expert from a Chicago suburb examine the school bus from the accident scene.
The expert is a representative of Cooper Barrett Consulting, LLC of Woodstock, Illinois. Founded in 1991 by two accident reconstruction experts at Northwestern University, Cooper Barrett Consulting currently includes one of the founders, a former sheriff’s deputy and a technician.
Subramanian, a citizen of India in the U.S. on a work visa, was employed as an quality control engineer at a local manufacturer at the time of the accident.
Subramanian is charged with leaving the scene of an accident as a Level 4 felony and passing a school bus while the arm signal was extended, according to court documents. If convicted on both counts, he could be sentenced to between three to 18 years in prison, as well as face potential deportation. Subramanian was released from the Bartholomew County Jail on a $500,000 bond in September.
Subramanian sought the court’s permission twice to leave the state for job interviews in both Pennsylvania and Iowa. In both cases, the request was denied.
