Indiana Motorist Gets 4 Years in Prison for Fatal Crash

ROCHESTER, Ind. — The motorist who was involved in the fatal crash that killed three students and injured another in October 2018 has been sentenced to four years in prison, the Chicago Tribune reports.

As SBF previously reported, on Oct. 30, 2018, Alyssa Shepherd was driving a pickup truck along State Road 25 when she struck and killed 6-year-old twins Xzavier and Mason Ingle and their sister, 9-year-old Alivia Stahl, as they were crossing the street to board their bus. A fourth student, 11-year-old Maverik Lowe, was airlifted to a nearby hospital with multiple broken bones and internal injuries, according to police.

A jury convicted Shepherd, 25, on Oct. 18 of three counts of reckless homicide, a felony count of criminal recklessness, and a misdemeanor count for passing a school bus causing injury when the stop arm is extended. She faced a maximum of 21-and-a-half years in prison. On Wednesday, the judge sentenced Shepherd to four years in prison, three years of house arrest, three years of probation, and suspended her driver’s license for 10 years, according to the Chicago Tribune.

During the sentencing, the mother of the students killed in the crash, Brittany Ingle, apparently lunged toward Shepherd in the courtroom. She was restrained and charged with misdemeanor battery, the newspaper reports.

Shepherd reportedly told investigators during a probable cause hearing for the crash that she didn’t see the bus or the students until it was too late to stop. The bus apparently had its lights flashing and stop arm extended.

Since the crash, Indiana lawmakers have introduced several pieces of legislation related to school bus safety, including Gov. Eric Holcomb’s school bus safety law. The new law, which went into effect on July 1, cracks down on illegal passing, establishes requirements for bus safety practices, and allows reimbursement for stop-arm camera equipment.