INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis woman will serve home detention but will not go to prison in the shooting of a rideshare driver. The Uber driver who was shot last year is still trying to make sense of the plea deal.
Uber driver Marco Batista picked up a man from a house on Winthrop Avenue on the east side of Indianapolis just before 9 p.m. on Jan. 4, 2023. The man's girlfriend, Rakeasia Rodgers, came out of the house chasing the car and firing shots. One bullet came through the trunk all the way through the driver's seat, hitting Batista in the lower back.
On Thursday, Sept. 26, Rodgers was sentenced for criminal recklessness for shooting into the car. She will serve 1 1/2 years on home detention, plus 3 1/2 years on probation.
The plea agreement dismissed four of the five charges against Rodgers. She ultimately is not convicted of actually shooting a person.
Batista attended the sentencing.
"I didn't expect this resolution," Batista said, "because we are telling the community, 'If you shoot someone, it's zero jail time.' It does not make sense to me, but I respect the justice system."
Batista immigrated to Indianapolis from Brazil. He still works for Uber but is afraid to take riders at night. He supplements his income as a soccer referee.
"I am 100% recovered, but I have PTSD," Batista said. "I had some other problems. I didn't work for three months."
Batista has mixed emotions about the 22-year-old shooter.
"I have feelings both ways," Batista said. "Sometimes I say, 'Oh, she had domestic violence. And then after that, she did it.' But when you pull the trigger, you are responsible for all bullets."
Batista said he hopes Rodgers serves her sentence and becomes a good citizen.
Rodgers and the prosecutor declined to comment on the sentence, which includes GPS monitoring and mandatory mental health counseling.