INDIANAPOLIS — A woman is wanted after she failed to show up for a court hearing Tuesday afternoon.
Ashanti Jones, of Indianapolis, was expected to plead guilty to driving a stolen car into a west Indianapolis house and fleeing the scene with her toddler. Judge Marc Rothenberg instead issued a no bond warrant for her arrest.
This was the fourth time Jones was scheduled for a change of plea hearing. The judge and attorneys on both sides expected her to plead guilty to driving a car into a house on Oliver Avenue, near West Washington Street and South Lynhurst Drive, on Jan. 27, 2023, and then taking off on foot. Neighbors captured video of Jones getting out of the car, walking out the front door with her daughter and fleeing the scene.
Inside the house, Yolanda Cabrera was sitting on a couch, holding her 2-year-old on her lap.
"She came crashing through my living room and literally threw me and my daughter into the hallway of the house,” said Cabrera, who showed up to the hearing Tuesday at the Marion County Community Justice Campus. "I was here because this is my case. A car crashed into my house and almost took my life and my two children, so it's something that I've been waiting to see justice for."
Cabrera suffered a serious cut on her arm in the crash and says she still doesn't have full strength in that arm. She said she asked Jones for help, but Jones just walked away.
Cabrera hopes that Jones will eventually have to serve more jail time for the incident.
"I have headaches that don't go away,” Cabrera said. “I have PTSD. Even my daughter has issues where she feels like a car is going to come crashing into the house. I also have those same nightmares. So, it's pretty traumatic since."
Court records say data recovered from the car shows it was going 92 mph five seconds before hitting the house.
Jones is charged with leaving the scene of an accident, auto theft, criminal recklessness, and not having her own child properly restrained in a car seat.