Without a driver’s license, Indy mom relies on Ubers for work
INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — For Lykisha Hardiman, it would mean everything to be able to drive again.
A 35-year-old single mom with two children, Hardiman lost her driving privileges some years ago after being unable to pay fines and court fees for a speeding ticket.
As a home health aide, Hardiman relies on ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft to get to her clients, which cuts into her monthly income. Her mother, Barbara Hardiman, lives nearby and watches her 9-year-old and 13-year-old girls while their mom is at work. The youngest is only interested in swimming — ”She thinks she’s a mermaid” — but the oldest will start working soon, and she’ll need reliable transportation, too.
Hardiman and her kids had planned to tag along with family members to visit a water park in Wisconsin this summer, but their family members don’t have room for the three of them in their vehicles. She hasn’t had the heart yet to tell her kids that the trip won’t be happening for them.
“That’s just like the hardest thing,” Hardiman says. “Your kids wanna do something, but you know you ain’t got your license. So you gotta either wait till somebody else is ready to do it, or it’s just — I hate it. I want my license real bad. If I can get my license, that would be the best thing that could happen. I won’t even ask for nothing else.”
Hardiman was one of hundreds of Marion County residents to attend a Marion County Prosecutor’s Office Second Chance Workshop this week to begin the process of getting their license reinstated or seeking expungement of a legal conviction.
Around 100,000 Marion County residents have a suspended license, the majority of which are suspended for being unable to pay a traffic ticket or the fees imposed by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles after a missed payment.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears calls the BMV fines “ridiculous.”
“What we’re doing currently is not working because we’ve got too many suspended drivers out there driving anyways,” Mears told Mirror Indy. “We see this as an opportunity to help people get their record straight, drive on the street legally, get insurance, and now people are no longer looking over their shoulder every time they drive.”
A fresh start
The temporary waiting area June 18 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse feels a lot like waiting for service at the BMV: People sitting expressionless in folding chairs, scrolling on their phones as they wait for their name to be called.
After filling out initial paperwork, Hardiman waits about 30 minutes before hearing her name. She is then escorted to meet with one of the dozens of volunteer attorneys.
Craig Turner, an older gentleman with a private practice focused on business law and commercial real estate, reviews Hardiman’s casefile after explaining to her that he is not representing her legally, just assisting her.
He gets some information about her income and expenses and tells her she’ll be filing for a motion for indigency, which tells the judge that she doesn’t have the financial means to pay the fines.
When Turner tells her that her charges will be dismissed by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office in a matter of days, her face lights up. Even the tone of her voice starts to change.
“I’m so excited,” she exclaims.
In all, about $600 in outstanding fees will be forgiven. Then Hardiman can go to a local BMV branch to get her license.
Leveling the playing field
In a city like Indianapolis, where public transportation doesn’t always extend to where the jobs are, losing driving privileges is tantamount to losing employment.
Lahny Silva, a criminal law professor at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law, first got the idea for a workshop in Marion County after being unimpressed with the reentry fairs she visited around the country.
“They were terrible. They just offered toothbrushes, a whole bunch of paperwork and no service,” she recalled.
Silva founded the student group Second Chance Re-entry Assistance Program, or SCRAP, and the annual re-entry fair, which works with previously incarcerated people to help them get driver’s licenses, employment assistance and housing.
In 2019, Mears visited one of the group’s workshops on the east side that offered residents help with driver’s license reinstatements and child support payments. Silva and Mears soon developed a partnership and began providing services through mobile outreach events in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods.
Since then, Mears has made these workshops a staple of his administration. Last year, more than 4,200 Hoosiers participated in 37 Second Chance Workshops held throughout Indianapolis.
For people like Hardiman, the events are a chance to one day give her kids the vacation they always wanted.
Learn more
Second Chance Workshops provide residents the opportunity to restore suspended driver’s licenses, expunge criminal convictions and receive information regarding child support services.
To learn more, or find out about the next event, visit the Second Chance Workshop website or email the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office at Second.Chance@indy.gov.
Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.