INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis mother is in jail and accused of crashing into a home on Indy’s west side, then leaving the scene after a woman was seriously hurt.
The crash took place in late January when a stolen car crashed into a living room along Oliver Avenue. A woman and her 1-year-old daughter were thrown off their couch by the force of the crash.
“She was in my arms when we flew,” victim Yolanda Cabrera said last month. “I asked them to please help me. I’m bleeding. I just wanted to live to see another day.”
With Cabrera bleeding from a severe arm injury and begging for help, witnesses saw the driver walking away.
“I called after her letting her know you can’t run off. You have to come back and take responsibility, and she just kept going,” said the witness.
That quick-thinking neighbor — who asked not to be identified — recorded the suspect leaving the scene with her own 3-year-old child walking next to her.
With the help of that video, police arrested 20-year-old Ashanti Jones this week on preliminary charges of auto theft, criminal recklessness, child neglect and leaving the scene of an accident.
Before the crash, police believe Jones stole a friend’s car from a nearby apartment complex parking lot.
According to court records, that friend later gave police text messages from Jones where the suspect admitted she was going too fast and lost control. She added she felt terrible, but also suggested they say someone else stole the car.
Two other passengers also walked away from the crash. That man and woman have not been arrested.
The witness, whose fiancée climbed inside the home and applied a tourniquet to help save the victim’s life, hopes Jones is held accountable for the crime.
“The lack of compassion by her and the other passengers is unbelievable,” said the witness.
While the speed limit in the neighborhood is 30 miles per hour, court records show the suspect lost control driving over 90.
The affidavit claims after being arrested, Jones allegedly admitted she was driving so fast because she has a “heavy foot.”
The suspect is being held on an $80,000 bond pending the filing of formal charges.
