Kalamazoo is joining the growing list of Michigan cities that is aiming to strike down required random breath testing for minors.
Currently, any person under the age of 21 in the city may be required to submit a test just because a safety officer suspects the person may have been drinking. The initiative to change the rule is coming from City Attorney Clyde Robinson. Robinson is hoping the law will change from a required test to a requested test. Officers would have to give minors the opportunity to say "no;" of course, this is only if the person has not been driving.
Officers would have to inform minors of their rights to refuse a test if they requested one under the proposed policy. Troy and Bay City, Michigan, have had to adopt a similar procedure because courts determined the required breath test did not hold up to personal liberty laws. In Troy, a court determined mandatory breath tests for minors not driving a car constituted unreasonable search & seizure and were a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The recommended change has passed a first reading last week. The Commissioners for the city should make a decision by early November. The decision will not have a significant impact on the city's officials, but safety officers will have to be retrained on the proper way to request a test from a minor.
Source
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Drivers treated and released after accident on West Conway
An Alanson woman and Bay City man were treated and released at Northern Michigan Regional Hospital Wednesday following a two-vehicle accident on West Conway Road in Harbor Springs.
According to Lt. Mike Kaiser with the Emmet County Sheriff's Department, around 11:41 a.m. 26-year-old Jessica Kenyon of Alanson was driving her 1997 Chrysler Sebring east along West Conway Road near Moeller Drive when she was hit on her rear driver's side while attempting to make a left-hand turn.
Kaiser said 18-year-old Brett Wesenick of Bay City, who was driving a 2006 GMC Sierra truck with an attached trailer for Shaw Contracting Co., out of Kawkawlin, who was also driving east on West Conway, and failed to yield for Kenyon's vehicle.
Kaiser said Wesenick's vehicle hit Kenyon's vehicle on its rear, driver's side, and rolled over in a ditch near the westbound lane.
"I don't really know why his truck rolled - probably something from the ditch that made him overturn," he said.
Kaiser said he is unsure of Wesenick's speed at the time of the accident, but said the Bay City man has been ticketed.
"We issued a ticket to Wesenick for violation of basic speed law," Kaiser said. "As a driver, you're required to maintain control of your vehicle, and he didn't."
Although both drivers wore seat belts, they were still transported to Northern Michigan Regional Hospital, where they were treated and released for minor injuries.
Source
According to Lt. Mike Kaiser with the Emmet County Sheriff's Department, around 11:41 a.m. 26-year-old Jessica Kenyon of Alanson was driving her 1997 Chrysler Sebring east along West Conway Road near Moeller Drive when she was hit on her rear driver's side while attempting to make a left-hand turn.
Kaiser said 18-year-old Brett Wesenick of Bay City, who was driving a 2006 GMC Sierra truck with an attached trailer for Shaw Contracting Co., out of Kawkawlin, who was also driving east on West Conway, and failed to yield for Kenyon's vehicle.
Kaiser said Wesenick's vehicle hit Kenyon's vehicle on its rear, driver's side, and rolled over in a ditch near the westbound lane.
"I don't really know why his truck rolled - probably something from the ditch that made him overturn," he said.
Kaiser said he is unsure of Wesenick's speed at the time of the accident, but said the Bay City man has been ticketed.
"We issued a ticket to Wesenick for violation of basic speed law," Kaiser said. "As a driver, you're required to maintain control of your vehicle, and he didn't."
Although both drivers wore seat belts, they were still transported to Northern Michigan Regional Hospital, where they were treated and released for minor injuries.
Source
Monday, December 28, 2009
Michigan bills would trim truck fine, reduce gridlock
While the majority of statehouses throughout the country have gone dark with lawmakers at home until the first of the year, a handful of states continue to meet. In Michigan, bills that are under consideration would trim bond amounts for truck weight violations and ease gridlock caused by certain fender-benders.
One bill is intended to lessen the potential blow on the pocketbooks of truck owners or drivers for truck weight violations.
Michigan law mandates that for vehicles loaded and driven or moved on highways when overweight the owner or driver must pay a fine based on the weight of the excess load and its distribution. If the person doesn’t immediately pay the fine or post bond in an amount double the fine, the vehicle must be impounded.
The House Transportation Committee has advanced a bill to the full House that would eliminate the requirement to double bond amounts. Instead, bonds posted for overweight vehicles would be for the amount of the fines.
Bill supporters say there is no reason for the bond to be double the amount of the actual fine. They say it places an unreasonable burden on drivers or owners while they contest violations because they never will owe more than the amount of the fine.
Sponsored by Sen. Alan Sanborn, R-Richmond, the bill – SB433 – also establishes standards for truck weighing scales.
If approved on the House floor, the bill would move to Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s desk. The Senate has already approved it by unanimous consent.
Another bill on the move would require moving drivable wrecked vehicles off the road.
Awaiting consideration on the House floor, the measure calls for mandating that drivers – or licensed passengers – remove their vehicles from traffic lanes as long as the vehicles are still drivable and no serious injuries were suffered. Failure to move vehicles would result in $105 fines.
Advocates for the requirement – HB5140 – say that studies have shown that more than 20 percent of wrecks are secondary wrecks that occur because of drivers reacting to an existing accident scene or because of a backup situation.
Source
One bill is intended to lessen the potential blow on the pocketbooks of truck owners or drivers for truck weight violations.
Michigan law mandates that for vehicles loaded and driven or moved on highways when overweight the owner or driver must pay a fine based on the weight of the excess load and its distribution. If the person doesn’t immediately pay the fine or post bond in an amount double the fine, the vehicle must be impounded.
The House Transportation Committee has advanced a bill to the full House that would eliminate the requirement to double bond amounts. Instead, bonds posted for overweight vehicles would be for the amount of the fines.
Bill supporters say there is no reason for the bond to be double the amount of the actual fine. They say it places an unreasonable burden on drivers or owners while they contest violations because they never will owe more than the amount of the fine.
Sponsored by Sen. Alan Sanborn, R-Richmond, the bill – SB433 – also establishes standards for truck weighing scales.
If approved on the House floor, the bill would move to Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s desk. The Senate has already approved it by unanimous consent.
Another bill on the move would require moving drivable wrecked vehicles off the road.
Awaiting consideration on the House floor, the measure calls for mandating that drivers – or licensed passengers – remove their vehicles from traffic lanes as long as the vehicles are still drivable and no serious injuries were suffered. Failure to move vehicles would result in $105 fines.
Advocates for the requirement – HB5140 – say that studies have shown that more than 20 percent of wrecks are secondary wrecks that occur because of drivers reacting to an existing accident scene or because of a backup situation.
Source
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Body identified more than a year after found in Lake Michigan
Years after police suspended a search for her son, Jeanette Scaffidi finally knows what happened after his boat capsized near the Holland pier.
Police on Wednesday identified a body that washed up on a Grand Haven Township beach in July 2008 as Hartland, Wis., resident Michael Scaffidi.
“We thought it was all over, and now it’s not all over. It’s rehashing everything all over again in our minds,” Jeanette Scaffidi said during a telephone interview Wednesday from her home in Wisconsin.
Scaffidi was reported missing July 9, 2005, after a boating crash on Lake Michigan about two miles southwest of Holland State Park.
Four passengers, including Scaffidi, were ejected from the 42-foot Outerlimits GTX power boat. Another boater, 20-year-old John Desousa Jr. of Bristol, R.I., was killed. Two other passengers were rescued.
Body disappeared
Police said at the time that Scaffidi’s body was thrown from the boat. It could not be located despite extensive searches by police, and later, by the victim’s family that hired a private search firm in attempts to find the body.
The boaters were participating in a charity event called Smoke on the Water Poker Run, in which about 100 boats made stops along the lake to collect cards for a poker hand. The event was based in Grand Haven and followed a 141-mile course with stops in South Haven, Holland, Muskegon and White Lake.
More than three years later, on July 15, 2008, a beach walker discovered human remains washed up along a Lake Michigan beach in Grand Haven Township, about 15 miles north of the accident scene. Police sent samples of the remains to a forensic laboratory at the University of North Texas at Ft. Worth, where the body was identified as Michael Scaffidi.
Police said the identification process required extensive DNA analysis, which included taking DNA samples from Michael Scaffidi’s identical twin brother, Mark.
The process of culturing and growing samples based on decomposing remains and DNA taken from a sibling can take several months.
After discovering the remains in July 2008, the sheriff’s office forwarded the findings to the Texas lab within a month, Lt. Mark Bennett said. Then, they waited for the lab to confirm a match.
“I don’t think it’s terribly unusual, time-frame wise,” Bennett said. “And these remains were in the lake for almost exactly three years.”
Jeanette Scaffidi said she learned late last week that the remains were her son’s.
Source
Police on Wednesday identified a body that washed up on a Grand Haven Township beach in July 2008 as Hartland, Wis., resident Michael Scaffidi.
“We thought it was all over, and now it’s not all over. It’s rehashing everything all over again in our minds,” Jeanette Scaffidi said during a telephone interview Wednesday from her home in Wisconsin.
Scaffidi was reported missing July 9, 2005, after a boating crash on Lake Michigan about two miles southwest of Holland State Park.
Four passengers, including Scaffidi, were ejected from the 42-foot Outerlimits GTX power boat. Another boater, 20-year-old John Desousa Jr. of Bristol, R.I., was killed. Two other passengers were rescued.
Body disappeared
Police said at the time that Scaffidi’s body was thrown from the boat. It could not be located despite extensive searches by police, and later, by the victim’s family that hired a private search firm in attempts to find the body.
The boaters were participating in a charity event called Smoke on the Water Poker Run, in which about 100 boats made stops along the lake to collect cards for a poker hand. The event was based in Grand Haven and followed a 141-mile course with stops in South Haven, Holland, Muskegon and White Lake.
More than three years later, on July 15, 2008, a beach walker discovered human remains washed up along a Lake Michigan beach in Grand Haven Township, about 15 miles north of the accident scene. Police sent samples of the remains to a forensic laboratory at the University of North Texas at Ft. Worth, where the body was identified as Michael Scaffidi.
Police said the identification process required extensive DNA analysis, which included taking DNA samples from Michael Scaffidi’s identical twin brother, Mark.
The process of culturing and growing samples based on decomposing remains and DNA taken from a sibling can take several months.
After discovering the remains in July 2008, the sheriff’s office forwarded the findings to the Texas lab within a month, Lt. Mark Bennett said. Then, they waited for the lab to confirm a match.
“I don’t think it’s terribly unusual, time-frame wise,” Bennett said. “And these remains were in the lake for almost exactly three years.”
Jeanette Scaffidi said she learned late last week that the remains were her son’s.
Source
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Police say Constantine man drowned in watercraft accident
CONSTANTINE -- Results of a preliminary autopsy show that a Constantine man whose body was found in the St. Joseph River early Monday died from drowning, police said.
Larry Sweet was a passenger on a personal watercraft that ran out of gas and overturned in the river near Winding River Road, according to Michigan State Police.
Neither Sweet nor the driver of the craft, whom police have not identified, were wearing life jackets at the time, investigators said.
Motorcyclist hurt in crash
on South Sprinkle Road
BRADY TOWNSHIP -- A Vicksburg man was injured Monday when he was thrown from his motorcycle during a crash on South Sprinkle Road, police said.
Robert VanderKamp, 52, was riding south at about 9 p.m. in the 12600 block of Sprinkle Road and preparing to turn into his driveway when his motorcycle was struck in the rear by a car driven by Alex Peterson, 17, of Vicksburg, according to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office.
VanderKamp suffered minor injuries in the crash and was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, where he was treated and released, a sheriff's office news release said.
Police said Peterson was cited at the scene of the crash for failing to stop within an assured clear distance.
Truck driver arrested
Source
Larry Sweet was a passenger on a personal watercraft that ran out of gas and overturned in the river near Winding River Road, according to Michigan State Police.
Neither Sweet nor the driver of the craft, whom police have not identified, were wearing life jackets at the time, investigators said.
Motorcyclist hurt in crash
on South Sprinkle Road
BRADY TOWNSHIP -- A Vicksburg man was injured Monday when he was thrown from his motorcycle during a crash on South Sprinkle Road, police said.
Robert VanderKamp, 52, was riding south at about 9 p.m. in the 12600 block of Sprinkle Road and preparing to turn into his driveway when his motorcycle was struck in the rear by a car driven by Alex Peterson, 17, of Vicksburg, according to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office.
VanderKamp suffered minor injuries in the crash and was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, where he was treated and released, a sheriff's office news release said.
Police said Peterson was cited at the scene of the crash for failing to stop within an assured clear distance.
Truck driver arrested
Source
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Michigan man dies in crash on I-80 in Nevada
ELKO, Nev.—The Nevada Highway Patrol says a Michigan man was killed and another was seriously injured when their car hit a construction zone barrel and overturned on Interstate 80.
Officers say 26-year-old Raman Agrawal of Okemos was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City where he died.
The driver, 22-year-old Joshua Peters of East Lansing, suffered serious injuries in the Saturday afternoon crash.
Investigators say neither man was wearing a seat belt and both were ejected.
Authorities say speed may have contributed to the accident.
Source
Officers say 26-year-old Raman Agrawal of Okemos was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City where he died.
The driver, 22-year-old Joshua Peters of East Lansing, suffered serious injuries in the Saturday afternoon crash.
Investigators say neither man was wearing a seat belt and both were ejected.
Authorities say speed may have contributed to the accident.
Source
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Howell man injured in crash
A 21-year-old Howell man was in critical condition in a local hospital Monday after his car collided with another vehicle, spun off the road and hit the side of a day care in Genoa Township.
Adults and children were inside the School Bell Teaching and Leaning Center on Grand River Avenue at 11:30 a.m. when the crash occurred, but nobody was hurt, Michigan State Police said.
"We didn't know anything had happened,'' said Linda Church, a teaching assistant.
The 2006 Chevrolet Malibu spun across the street, over a plastic fence and struck the building near an entryway, but did not penetrate the exterior wall.
The driver suffered serious injuries and was taken by Survival Flight to the University of Michigan Hospital, State Police said.
A preliminary State Police investigation showed the man did not see an oncoming vehicle as he tried to turn left from Pless Drive onto the eastbound side of Grand River Avenue. Before he could complete the turn, his car was struck by a 2002 GMC Envoy traveling west on the inside lane of Grand River Avenue. A third car, which was not hit, was turning right from Grand River Avenue onto Pless Drive at the time.
The driver of the Envoy, a 44-year-old Howell man, was taken by Livingston County EMS to the U-M Hospital. He was listed in good condition on Monday afternoon, police said.
The crash is still being investigated.
Source
Adults and children were inside the School Bell Teaching and Leaning Center on Grand River Avenue at 11:30 a.m. when the crash occurred, but nobody was hurt, Michigan State Police said.
"We didn't know anything had happened,'' said Linda Church, a teaching assistant.
The 2006 Chevrolet Malibu spun across the street, over a plastic fence and struck the building near an entryway, but did not penetrate the exterior wall.
The driver suffered serious injuries and was taken by Survival Flight to the University of Michigan Hospital, State Police said.
A preliminary State Police investigation showed the man did not see an oncoming vehicle as he tried to turn left from Pless Drive onto the eastbound side of Grand River Avenue. Before he could complete the turn, his car was struck by a 2002 GMC Envoy traveling west on the inside lane of Grand River Avenue. A third car, which was not hit, was turning right from Grand River Avenue onto Pless Drive at the time.
The driver of the Envoy, a 44-year-old Howell man, was taken by Livingston County EMS to the U-M Hospital. He was listed in good condition on Monday afternoon, police said.
The crash is still being investigated.
Source
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