A 52-year-old Indianapolis man has been sentenced to 28 years in prison after crash data showed he was driving nearly three times the posted speed limit on 38th Street near Fall Creek Parkway, flipping a car whose owner had never given him permission to drive it and had begged him to let her out before the crash happened. Kim “Leo” Sylvest was behind the wheel on February 2 when he lost control near the Indiana State Fairgrounds, according to police.
The posted speed limit on that stretch of 38th Street is 35 miles per hour, but crash data showed Sylvest was driving 97 miles per hour before he hit a snow-covered median, according to WISH-TV. The female passenger in the car was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected, landing about 50 feet from the vehicle, police said. She suffered several broken bones and cuts in the crash.
Police said the woman owned the car Sylvest was driving and had not given him permission to drive it. She had asked him to let her out before the crash occurred, according to police. After the car flipped, Sylvest ran through a hole in a fence into the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and a bystander told police he left the scene quickly.
Charges Stack Up Under Indiana Sentencing Law
Sylvest was ultimately sentenced for confinement resulting in serious bodily injury, reckless driving resulting in bodily injury, and leaving the scene of an accident, the station's report notes. He also received the habitual violent offender sentencing enhancement, which pushed his total sentence well beyond what any single charge would carry on its own.
Under Indiana Code § 35-50-2-8, a habitual offender finding functions as a non-suspendible sentencing enhancement attached to the felony carrying the highest penalty, adding between 8 and 20 years on top of that base sentence, according to Justia Law. It is not a separate crime but a multiplier applied at sentencing. Criminal confinement, meanwhile, begins in Indiana as a Level 6 felony but escalates to a Level 3 felony carrying a statutory advisory sentence of nine years when the offense results in serious bodily injury, per the same statute as detailed by Justia Law.
The reckless driving charge also reflects an escalation built into state law. Reckless driving is normally a Class C misdemeanor in Indiana, but it becomes a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison when the conduct causes bodily injury, according to Keffer Hirschauer LLP. Together, the underlying felony and the habitual offender enhancement account for the bulk of Sylvest's 28-year term.
A Prior Run-In With Marion County's Justice System
Court records show this is not Sylvest's first documented brush with Indiana's criminal justice system. A 2020 federal court ruling noted that he was incarcerated at Putnamville Correctional Facility while pursuing a civil rights lawsuit tied to a July 2018 Marion County arrest, according to CaseMine. Decades earlier, minutes from the Indiana State Boxing Commission show the board voted in April 2007 to reinstate Sylvest following a suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct at a boxing event, after the commission accepted his verbal apology.
A Dangerous Stretch of 38th Street Under Scrutiny
The crash unfolded on a corridor that city officials have flagged as particularly hazardous. The Indianapolis Fatal Crash Review Team formally placed the West 38th Street corridor between Fall Creek Parkway and Michigan Road under safety evaluation to study collision data and recommend road design changes. Hoodline previously reported on a fatal pedestrian crash along that same stretch between Michigan Road and Fall Creek Parkway.
In March, the review team recommended building raised median islands along 38th Street specifically to prevent drivers from making high-speed passing maneuvers in center turn lanes. The corridor near Fall Creek Parkway had already undergone major reconfiguration as part of IndyGo's Bus Rapid Transit Purple Line project, which redesigned travel lanes in the area.
The danger has shown up in other incidents nearby. In June 2025, a high-speed red-light runner caused a five-car crash at Fall Creek Parkway North Drive and the Indiana State Fairgrounds entrance, injuring four people including two off-duty police officers working event security, according to footage reviewed from a local broadcast. Across Marion County, Indianapolis city limits account for more than 32,000 of the region's 37,000-plus annual motor vehicle collisions, per data cited by the law firm Christie Bell & Marshall — a volume that helps explain why corridors like 38th Street draw repeated scrutiny from crash investigators.
