COLUMBUS, Ind. — The Columbus Police Department has made an arrest in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident on Sunday evening around 7:15.
Lt. Matt Harris, Public Relations Officer, says city police received a report about a crash involving pedestrians. When officers arrived at the scene they found Anshul Sharma, 30, and Samira Bharadwaj, 28, seriously injured along Taylor Road near Lakeside Drive. Sharma was deceased and paramedics were treating Bharadwaj for serious injuries. Minutes later, witnesses told officers they saw a red minivan driving erratically on Chandler Lane, a few blocks away from the scene of the incident.
Police say they located the minivan parked in a driveway in the 2000 block of Chandler Lane, where CPD made contact with Michael Demaio, 36. According to the police report, officers suspected Demaio was intoxicated. He was required to perform several field sobriety tests, which he failed. Demaio was taken to Columbus Regional Health for a blood test and then transported to the Bartholomew County Jail. He has been charged with failure to stop following a fatal accident, failure to stop following an accident causing injury, operating a vehicle while intoxicated resulting in death, and operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing injury.
