INDIANAPOLIS — A 55-year-old woman from Indianapolis is facing criminal charges after allegedly causing an eight-vehicle accident on June 9 that claimed one person’s life. Court documents further reveal that the woman alleged to have caused the accident has a history of causing crashes, including a fatal collision that occurred just weeks before on May 19.
Kelli Anderson was charged on Friday with one count of reckless homicide, a level 5 felony, along with six counts of misdemeanor criminal recklessness.
According to court documents, police were called out to N. Keystone Avenue and E. 52nd Street on June 9 at approximately 4:50 p.m. in response to a multi-vehicle accident. On scene, officers discovered eight vehicles involved in the crash and a woman suffering from serious injuries.
According to witness testimony, Anderson was accused of driving a Lincoln SUV and smashing into stopped vehicles. Anderson told officers she had been traveling north and tried to avoid stopped traffic on Keystone by veering to the left before she slammed into stopped traffic.
A witness said Anderson was traveling 50 to 60 miles per hour when she drove over the center median and barrelled into traffic waiting at a red light.
Court documents reveal Kiana Burns to be the driver of the first vehicle Anderson struck, a gray 2009 Pontiac G6, that was rammed by the Lincoln and shoved into a Toyota Corolla and a Subaru Forester. Burns was transported from the scene in grave condition. She died two days later at the hospital as a result of her injuries.
The Lincoln, Pontiac and Toyota were towed from the crash scene due to the heavy amount of damage, court documents revealed. Other vehicles damaged in the crash were able to drive away without towing.
When police spoke to Anderson at the hospital following the accident on Keystone, she reportedly told officers she was on daily medication, including Topamax, due to having “severe, life-threatening allergies and epilepsy.” When officers asked Anderson if she had been suffering from allergies prior to the crash, she reportedly told police, “Honestly, I blacked out, ’cause I don’t remember what happened.”
When officers asked if her medications caused Anderson any side effects she told officers they did not. She also told officers she is allowed to drive because “nothing is wrong with her brain and her illness is all due to allergies.”
Anderson claimed to officers that her allergies could cause her to “pass out” if the air report for allergies was severe. When asked by officers what the air report for June 9 was, she reportedly answered with hesitation that it was, “moderate.”
Vehicle data revealed Anderson was driving nearly 69 miles per hour at the point of impact on Keystone Avenue despite the stopped traffic. In fact, the data revealed Anderson has sped up before impact: 57 mph five seconds before impact, 61.3 mph three seconds before impact, 65.7 one second before impact, and 68.7 mph at impact.
The data also revealed the accelerator pedal was 100 full when the crash happened and the brakes were not engaged.
The speed limit on the stretch of Keystone where the crash occurred is 35 mph.
A deadly history behind the wheel
When investigators were examing the scene of the crash on Keystone Avenue, detectives discovered that Anderson had also been involved in a deadly crash only weeks before on May 19 in Marion County.
Anderson had reportedly suffered internal injuries from the crash and had been taken to the hospital, where she said she took medication for seizures and may have blacked out and didn’t remember the crash.
Further research into Anderson’s history behind the wheel revealed she had been involved in at least five at-fault crashes since August of 2019.
On Aug. 3, 2019, Anderson was driving a black Saturn Outlook when she veered off the road, drove into a ditch and flipped her vehicle. She again told officers she was epileptic and possibly had a seizure.
On Feb. 20, 2020, Anderson was driving a silver GMC Acadia and didn’t stop at a stop sign on E. 79th Street. She is accused of driving through the intersection and crashing into a BMW. The driver of the BMW was transported to a hospital with pain in her shoulder.
On May 9, 2021, Anderson was driving a silver GMC Acadia on Fall Creek Parkway N. Drive near E. 39th Street when she smashed into the back of another vehicle also traveling south. A witness said Anderson was traveling too fast, while Anderson changed her story when she was telling police what happened.
On Sept. 2, 2021, Anderson was driving a silver GMC Acadia on Allisonville Road when she struck the rear of another vehicle also traveling southbound. After hitting the Chevrolet and sending it spinning out, Anderson hit a fire hydrant. She told police she did not know she was involved in an accident and didn’t realize she had hit anyone.
On May 2, 2022, Anderson was driving a black GMC Acadia and driving south on MLK Street when she veered off the roadway and struck a pole. She claimed a vehicle stopped abruptly in front of her.
‘At high risk of harm’
Investigators learned that Anderson explained to medical personnel after the May 19 crash that she had been diagnosed with seizures in February of 2018 after suffering a couple of grand mal seizures. She also told medical personnel that she had been having increasing episodes of “syncope vs seizures with the first episode occurring January 19, 2022.”
Court documents reveal that Anderson was discharged on May 20 with a summary of: “neurology explained to the patient that she is at high risk of harm to herself and/or others and that she should not drive for 6 months until cleared by a neurologist.” The medical records stated Anderson gave a verbal understanding to this summary.
Police said a check of Anderson through the Indiana BMV revealed her driving status to still be valid at the time of the crashes.
IMPD took Anderson into custody on Friday evening.
