Main, left to right: Ares Vawter and Iris Moore (Legacy Funeral Services). Inset: S'Doni Pettis (Hendricks County Prosecutor's Office).
A 25-year-old man in Indiana will spend more than seven decades in prison for leading police on a high-speed chase that ended with him driving nearly 100 mph through a red light and right into a family's SUV, leaving the vehicle "engulfed in flames" and killing two young brothers.
S'Doni Pettis will serve 74 years in a state correctional facility for causing the catastrophic crash that killed 3-year-old Ares Vawter and 2-month-old Iris Moore early last year.
A Hendricks County Judge on Monday handed down the sentence, the maximum allowed under Indiana state law, after Pettis last month reached a mid-trial deal with the prosecutors and pleaded guilty to three counts of resisting law enforcement, two counts of causing catastrophic injury when operating a motor vehicle, one count of causing death when operating a motor vehicle, one count of conversion and one count of auto theft.
"This crime was completely foreseeable," Hendricks County Prosecutor Loren Delp said in a statement following the sentencing hearing. "Two young children are dead because the defendant didn't want to be held accountable for stealing a car. Now he has the rest of his life in prison to think about the lives he took and those he affected."
According to a news release from the Hendricks County Prosecutor's Office, the incident took place on the morning of Feb. 5, 2025. Pettis, who was on probation for aggravated battery at the time, stole a gray Honda Civic in Indianapolis and got onto U.S. 40 driving west.
A short while later, an officer with the Avon Police Department attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the Civic and learned the vehicle was stolen. Pettis then "deliberately chose to flee" from the officer.
"As Pettis accelerated westbound on U.S. 40, he entered the intersection of Ronald Reagan Parkway at extreme speeds, ran a red light, and slammed into a Ford Explorer occupied by a family," the release states. "The impact sent the Explorer airborne and immediately engulfed it in flames. Inside the burning vehicle were two young children."
Iris, the infant, was pronounced dead at the scene. Ares suffered "catastrophic burns" and was transported to Riley's Children's Hospital in Indianapolis where he succumbed to his injuries and died. The young brothers were laid to rest together on March 12, 2025, according to NBC affiliate WTHR.
Several others were injured while trying to rescue the children, including multiple responding police officers and the boys' father. A civilian bystander who attempted to cut away a car seat that had melted around one of the victims was also injured, prosecutors said.
Data obtained from Pettis' car showed he was going about 90 mph at the moment of impact and "never applied his brakes," according to prosecutors.
"The crimes committed by the defendant are unspeakable," Delp said. "Two innocent children lost their lives because of violent choices and utterly indifferent to human life. There is no sentence that can restore what was taken from these families, but there is an obligation—on behalf of this community—to hold the offender fully accountable."
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