Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian
A jury selected to hear the case of charges against Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian heard opening statements Tuesday.
Subramanian, an engineer and native of India in Columbus on a work visa, is accused of two felonies in regard to the Aug. 30, 2021 death of a Columbus East High School student. Sixteen-year-old Lily J. Streeval was struck by Subramanian’s 2019 Honda Civic as she was attempting to board her school bus in the early morning hours of that day, court documents state.
The defendant is charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death or catastrophic injury, a Level 4 felony, and passing a school bus while the arm signal is extended causing death, a Level 5 felony, according to court documents.
The defense said the death of Streeval was the result of several factors that led up to a tragic accident – not a criminal act.
In his opening statement to the seven male and five female jury, defense attorney James Voyles cited a number of different factors that he claims will prove his client thought he struck a deer or an inanimate object.
The defendant’s sight-lines on South Gladstone Avenue were hampered by agricultural fields and a slight hill, Voyles told the jury. The Indianapolis attorney also showed jurors a photo indicating the left wheels of the northbound school bus were partially in the southbound lanes, which was the direction Subramanian was driving.
Due to eLearning during the COVID-19 pandemic, most drivers were no longer used to stopping for school buses in August 2021, the defense lawyer said. Voyles also claimed that school bus driver Ronald Joy had stopped at an slightly different area to pick up Streeval, which forced the teen to run down the road a short distance to catch up with the bus.
While the defense attorney said the yellow lights on the bus were flashing, Voyles told the jurors the front stop arm signal had not yet been fully extended when the teen was hit. He also said the rear stop arm was just beginning to come out when the fatality occurred.
The Indianapolis attorney said he will have an accident reconstruction expert from Northwestern University take the stand to confirm this claim.
Video taken from the body camera of Columbus Police officer Jacob Driver made it appear that dark storm clouds were overhead when the teen was struck at 6:55 a.m.
The defense maintains that visual limitations caused Subramanian to drive away thinking that he had either struck a deer or an inanimate object. Voyles claims his client’s first impulse was to return home and notify authorities that he hit something, but when he attempted to turn around to return home, his car got stuck in the yard outside a home on County Road 250E, which was owned by an police officer.
When accident witness Brian Rea caught up with Subramanian after his car got stuck, Rea was yelling and screaming to the extent that Subramanian thought there was a domestic dispute in progress, the defense attorney said.
Voyles also claimed the bus driver, who is in his 80s, told officers he couldn’t remember if the warning arms had been extended, adding that Joy had also expressed concern that he might have caused the accident.
But most of the attorney’s assessments regarding Joy were objected to by assistant district attorney Jordan Lorenzo as hearsay. Judge Kelly Benjamin sustained Lorenzo’s objections.
When Driver took the stand, he described the bus driver as being in shock. While the officer agreed with Voyles that Joy said he couldn’t say at the time whether the stop arms were extended, Driver also testified he did not remember the bus driver saying he might have caused the accident.
In his opening statement, Lorenzo repeated many of the details that were in a probable cause affidavit submitted by an investigating officer.
Investigators said the stop arm signals on Streeval’s school bus were extended and warning lights on the bus were flashing when Streeval attempted to cross South Gladstone Avenue to board the bus. Subramanian struck the teen with his vehicle as she crossed Gladstone Avenue before fleeing the scene, Lorenzo said.
Rea, whose vehicle was stopped behind the bus, witnessed the incident and turned and followed Subramanian until he got stuck in the ditch, according to court documents.
The assistant district attorney gave one detail that was not on the affidavit. When Rea finally caught up with Subramanian, the witness asked the defendant if he knew he had just hit a kid.
Subramanian responded by telling Rea he had only hit an object – not a human being, Lorenzo said.
Court officials say the trial may last through the rest of the week.
