COA to hear case examining Indiana’s driver responsibilities law

The Indiana Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments next month in a case debating interpretations of the state’s driver responsibilities statute.

Judges Robert Altice, Dana Kenworthy and Mary DeBoer will hear the arguments at KIPP Indy Legacy High School in Decatur County on April 9.

The case stems from a 2023 motorcycle accident in which Bradley Hobbs and his girlfriend of 22 years, Aubree Whitham, with whom he has children and grandchildren, crashed near Greensburg, Indiana, while riding with friends.

According to court documents, the couple was riding on the same motorcycle, without helmets, when they ran into a median and crashed.

When they crashed, one of their phones sent an automated 911 call to local authorities informing them of their location. The couple’s friends also immediately turned around, called 911 and came to their assistance.

Whitham was unconscious and could not breathe because she had grass and dirt in her mouth. One of the friends cleared Whitham’s airway of the debris and performed CPR. Whitham regained consciousness but was confused about where she was and what had happened. It was later determined that Whitham suffered a fractured neck and a concussion, but she made a full recovery.

According to court documents, the friends recalled seeing Hobbs stumbling and walking with a limp at the scene of the accident.

A witness who did not see the accident happen but came upon the scene and stopped testified that someone drove up to the area on a moped, picked Hobbs up and left. The witness said he did not see Hobbs return to the scene.

The following day, Hobbs contacted Whitham’s brother, an Indiana State Police Officer, about getting in touch with the officer who worked the scene — Greensburg police officer Stephen Hershberger

Hobbs spoke with Hershberger at Hobbs’ house a couple of days later, at which Hobbs said he did not remember the accident, but he believed a problem with the motorcycle’s rear tire caused the crash.

Hobbs said that after he wrecked, he was knocked out. Once he regained consciousness, he said he saw the couple’s friends caring for Whitham.

According to the state’s brief, Hobbs told Hershberger that their friends told him that he had killed Whitham. Hobbs then “freaked out” and left the scene because “he had a lot of other stuff going on with his life then.”

Hobbs said the next thing he remembered was waking up in some bushes near Interstate 74 before walking home.

According to court documents, Hershberger was concerned that Hobbs had hit his head and was injured.

The state later charged Hobbs with a Level 6 felony, leaving the scene of an accident. According to court documents, Whitham did not want to be part of the prosecution and testified that she had complete trust in Hobbs.

Indiana law requires the operator of a vehicle involved in an accident to provide reasonable assistance to each person injured, as directed by a law enforcement officer, medical personnel or a 911 operator, and to give immediate notice of the accident or ensure that another person gives notice of the accident.

In 2025, a jury found Hobbs guilty, and Decatur Superior Court Judge Matthew Bailey sentenced Hobbs to three years in prison and two years of probation.

The court determined that the state had sufficiently proved that Hobbs had failed to meet the law’s requirements: providing Whitham with his contact information and identification, providing her with reasonable assistance and immediately notifying authorities or ensuring another person had done so.

Hobbs is appealing the conviction, saying there was insufficient evidence to support the court’s ruling.

Hobbs’s attorney, Amanda Blackketter, says the idea that Hobbs could be convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison for not giving Whitham – with whom he was married at the time of the trial – his identifying information and showing her his driver’s license at the scene of the accident is “nonsensical” because all the parties involved already knew Hobbs’ identity and information.

‘The statute was not intended to be used in this way,” Blackketter said in the appellant’s brief.

The state views it differently.

“The statute does not exempt an operator from providing their name and address and the registration number of the motor vehicle to a person involved in the accident simply because the person is aware of the operator’s identity,” the state’s appellee brief stated. “Nor does it exempt them from exhibiting their driver’s license to the accident victim or occupant involved.”

The state also noted that even if Whitham knew Hobbs, it does not prove that she had his registration information, which the statute also required Hobbs to provide.

Blackketter considers the state’s interpretation of the statute “absurd.”

“The purpose of this statutory provision is to sufficiently establish the identity of the parties so that they and police authorities may know with whom to deal in matters growing out of the accident,” according to the appellant’s reply brief.

Blackketter also argues that the evidence does not show that anyone ever directed Hobbs to assist Whitham or that she did not receive prompt assistance. Rather, the couple’s friends were quickly assisting Whitham, even as Hobbs was stumbling up from the ground.

The state holds that even if no one directed Hobbs to assist, it is because he did not notify anyone of the accident so that they could tell him.

The state argues that Hobbs failed to notify local authorities of the accident, but Hobbs’s attorney points to the automated 911 phone call, which was later determined to have come from Hobbs’s cell phone immediately after the accident, a fact not shared with the original jury.

“The driver, by possessing a cell phone or vehicle with the automated 911 feature enabled, satisfies the statute by ‘immediately giving notice of the accident.’ This is exactly what happened in this case,” a Jan. 19 appellant reply brief stated. “Hobbs had equipped himself with technology specifically designed to give immediate notice in emergencies (cellular telephone), and he had activated the automatic 911 feature. Hobbs’ preparation resulted in notice of the accident being given immediately.”

The case is Bradley W Hobbs v. State of Indiana (25A-CR-2343). The argument can be watched here.