(Rightallegiance.com) – Jeremy Sweet, a 41-year-old Indiana man, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for causing the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Emma Sweet. The tragic incident occurred when Sweet drove his truck into a shallow river while under the influence of marijuana and methamphetamine on Thanksgiving Day in 2021. Bystanders managed to rescue Sweet, but unfortunately, his daughter, Emma, drowned inside the submerged vehicle.
Sweet pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent and habitual offender enhancement charges and was given a 30-year sentence for the former and an additional 10 years for the latter. Emma’s body was found by divers days after the incident, and her official cause of death was determined to be “complications of hypothermia and asphyxia due to drowning,” which was ruled a homicide.
The investigation revealed that Sweet had been at a casino in Shelbyville with two friends the day before the crash and picked up his daughter from her mother in Columbus on Thanksgiving Day. After getting lost in some fields, he took a wrong turn on a dirt road and accidentally fell into the east fork of the White River. The river was between three and five feet deep where the truck was submerged, and law enforcement believed Sweet drove his vehicle into the water from an embankment 15 to 20 feet above the river.
During the investigation, Sweet provided multiple differing accounts of what happened during the incident. In one version, he claimed that he dropped Emma off somewhere before the truck went into the water. Later, he admitted that the girl was in the car at the time.
In another version, he said that he grabbed his daughter and climbed onto the roof of the truck before falling into the water. Then, he claimed that he put his daughter on the roof alone and fell asleep, waking up to find the girl gone.
At his sentencing, Sweet broke down emotionally and apologized to his ex-wife for losing their daughter. “There’s nothing I can say to change what has happened,” he said. “But I swear to God on everything I love that I’m so sorry.” The tragic incident serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, as it can have devastating consequences for not only the driver but also their loved ones.