An Indiana woman has been convicted of reckless homicide after running over four children in her pickup truck last October, killing three of them.
As per Fox News, Alyssa Shepherd may face up to 21 years in prison after plowing into the four children when they were crossing a two-lane highway to board their school bus on October 30, 2018.
Six-year-old twin brothers Xzavier and Mason Ingle were killed, along with their older sister, nine-year-old Alivia Stahl. 11-year-old Maverik Lowe was grievously hurt in the same accident and is yet to recover from his injuries after more than 20 surgeries.
Shepherd was convicted by a Fulton County jury of three felony counts – reckless homicide, criminal recklessness, and a misdemeanour count of passing a school bus causing injury when the arm is extended.
She told the courtroom that she remembered seeing blinking lights and a large vehicle, but didn’t realize it was a bus and didn’t see the red stop sign on an extended arm at its side.
Of hitting the children, she said: “The only way I can describe it is an out-of-body experience. I was a mess.”
If handed the maximum sentence, Shepherd could face more than two decades in prison. She will be sentenced on December 18.
According to USA Today, Brittany Ingle, the mother of the children, said: “I don’t think we’ll ever feel closure. But this will go toward healing.”
Michael Stahl, father of Alivia, said: “I don’t want to see another parent have to endure what Brittany, Shane and myself have endured.”
The world has needlessly lost three bright young souls, and another has yet to to recover, due to the reckless actions of one person.
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