Fiancé of Indianapolis hit-and-run victim speaks out after driver is sentenced to house arrest

INDIANAPOLIS — The fiancé of a woman killed in a hit-and-run crash feels let down by the justice system after the driver responsible was sentenced to just one year of house arrest and two years of probation.

Alexandra Leal, 30, was killed in September along Lynhurst Drive on the southwest side of Indianapolis. Since her death, Leal’s family and loved ones have maintained a roadside memorial near where she was struck. Over time, it grows with the memories she never got to make — birthdays and holidays that aren’t much of a celebration anymore with one fewer seat at the table.

“This is what we have of her,” Leal’s fiancé, Shane Bernard, said while clutching a small vial of ashes he wears on a chain. “My kids all got one. This is her.”

Bernard, who was set to marry Leal this year, also wears her engagement ring around his neck—a painful reminder of the future they lost.

Bernard fears justice will never be served after hearing the suspect’s sentence of just one year on house arrest and two years of probation.

“That’s a slap on the wrist,” he said. “She took somebody’s life. I’ve got two kids without a mom.”

Court records show the driver, Lateresa Hadrick, turned herself in nearly three weeks after the crime. Hadrick told investigators she only realized she had hit a person after seeing news reports. Despite the reports she saw, Hadrick did not contact police for several days.

“She had to hear me because people 15 houses down heard me screaming and yelling,” Bernard said. “I looked back and just saw the lights, it happened so fast. All I could do was yell, ‘Move Alexandra.'”

Bernard said that, even though Hadrick pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death and obstruction of justice, the punishment doesn’t match the crime.

“Maybe if she would’ve stopped, I could see that,” Bernard said. “But she definitely drove with intentions to get away and not turn herself in, and fixed the car. She was definitely trying to cover it up.”

According to court documents, if Hadrick abides by the conditions of her sentence, she won’t have to spend another day in jail.

Bernard said Hadrick’s sentence sends a dangerous message in a city that saw nearly double the number of hit-and-run crash deaths in 2024 compared to the year before.

“Don’t pull a gun out, just drive a car, and you’ll go do some house arrest,” Bernard said. “Basically, it’s a murder. You want to go kill somebody, you just drive your car and you’re going to get a slap on the wrist.”

FOX59/CBS4 reached out to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office for comment regarding Hadrick’s plea agreement. As of this article’s publication, the MCPO had not responded to FOX59/CBS4’s requests.