A South Bend woman who was exonerated for a fatal crash she was wrongfully imprisoned for is suing St. Joseph County, Mishawaka and five municipal employees, saying they all violated her civil rights by willfully withholding evidence that proved her innocent.
Kara Beaty was an 18-year-old high school senior in June 2020 when she left her job at Dairy Queen and was hit by a motorcycle traveling at more than 100 miles per hour.
The driver of the motorcycle, Erin Smith, was heading west on Ireland Road toward Michigan Street.
At the time of the crash, Smith was livestreaming to Facebook. According to the lawsuit, the Facebook Live video shows Smith driving recklessly with his hands off the handlebars, standing up on the motorcycle with his hands outstretched, his eyes off the road and traveling at a rate nearing 130 miles per hour.
The lawsuit directly accuses Timothy Spencer, an investigator with the St. Joseph County Prosecutors office and commander of the Fatal Accident & Crash Team, of fabricating evidence against Beaty, eliciting false eyewitness testimony and withholding exculpatory evidence that later proved her innocence.
Beaty’s sister found Smith’s Facebook Live video online, screen-recorded it and gave it to their father. According to the lawsuit, he acquired Spencer’s cell phone number and immediately sent him the video.
Despite access to the video and the fact the impact of the crash caused Smith’s motorcycle to travel 70 feet and “essentially” explode on impact, and the fact Smith was “catapulted” 100 feet and Beaty’s car was forced off the road, crashing into a nearby light pole, Spencer testified at her trial that Smith was not driving recklessly and was traveling only 37-42 miles per hour, the lawsuit states, far short of the 107-129 miles per hour later determined.
Eyewitness testimony alleged Smith was traveling north on Michigan Street and that he turned into a Marathon gas station on the corner of Michigan and Ireland. According to the lawsuit, the Facebook Live video shows neither of those statements to be true.
The lawsuit alleges Spencer “conspired with defendants to fabricate false expert opinion.”
Joshua Siekman with the St. Joseph County Police Department fabricated a report stating Beaty was “impaired and used Cannabis the day of the incident,” according to the lawsuit. Beaty had not used cannabis the day of the crash, the lawsuit states, but she had used cannabis the day before.
The scene of the crash was scanned with GPS technology, a Trimble R4 GNSS device, which constructed a three-dimensional diagram of the crash. According to the lawsuit, six different exculpatory scans were obtained by Brandon Ruth and Mark Fleming with the Mishawaka Police Department.
By the time of trial, Ruth and Fleming “only disclosed a virtually useless rough hand sketch of the scene,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit alleges Ruth and Fleming withheld the exculpatory evidence of the GPS scans.
Beaty was charged with “operating a motor vehicle with a Schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in her blood.”
The charges were later amended, alleging Beaty, “caused the death of, or catastrophic injury to, Mr. Smith while operating a vehicle with a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance or its metabolite in her blood.”
In 2024, Beaty, working with the University of Notre Dame’s Exoneration Justice Clinic, filed a post-conviction petition. The St. Joseph County Prosecutors office reinvestigated the incident and confirmed Smith was traveling over 100 miles per hour, contradicting Spencer’s testimony of 37 to 42 miles per hour.
In March 2025, the state filed a joint motion to vacate Beaty’s conviction. In April 2025, the charges were dropped and Beaty’s case was vacated.
Smith was left a quadriplegic and a single-leg amputee. He died a year later from pneumonia. Beaty suffered a grade three concussion, a fractured wrist and an avulsion to her knee, which resulted in surgery.
The lawsuit said, “Defendants conducted a reckless investigation, withheld exculpatory evidence, withheld impeachment evidence, destroyed evidence, and fabricated false reports, false testimony, and other evidence.”
The lawsuit adds that, “the Defendants, individually, jointly and in conspiracy with each other, as well as under color of law and within the scope of their employment, deprived Ms. Beaty of her constitutional right to be free from unlawful prosecution and continued detention without probable cause.”
Mishawaka Corporation Counsel John Roggeman was unable to comment on the lawsuit, as he told The Tribune that the City of Mishawaka is still waiting on the paperwork to review.
The Tribune reached out to the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s office and was unable to speak with anyone, including Spencer. The Tribune will provide further details as more information becomes available.
Email Tribune staff writer Juliane Balog at jbalog@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Exonerated South Bend woman’s lawsuit alleges she was framed for crash
Reporting by Juliane Balog , South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Juliane Balog , South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
