A 47-year-old woman was drunk when her van struck a car and killed four young people, a prosecutor said Tuesday as he filed second-degree murder charges for the "egregious" act.
The crash Monday night in the Detroit suburb of Roseville killed a 19-year-old man and three students at Lake Shore High School in St. Clair Shores.
Devon Spurlock, 19, who was driving the car, died Tuesday morning, less than 12 hours after the crash. He was a senior in an alternative education program.Spurlock was waiting to make a turn on Gratiot Avenue when his car was smashed by a full-size van driven by Frances Patricia Dingle of Clinton Township, said Roseville Deputy Police Chief James Berlin.
The other victims were Erica Haudek, 15, and Stephanie Currie and Jordan Michalak, both 16. All were sophomores.
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said Dingle's blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
"Her actions in this case are egregious," Smith told WWJ-AM.
He charged Dingle with four counts of second-degree murder and four counts of driving under the influence causing death. She faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder and up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the lesser charge.
"Our office has been very successful in prosecuting drunken-driving deaths as second-degree murder," Smith told The Associated Press.
Dingle was arraigned Tuesday at St. John Macomb Hospital, where she was being treated for non-serious injuries sustained in the crash, Berlin said.
She was ordered held on $1 million cash bond. A preliminary exam is scheduled for March 25.
James Simasko, a lawyer who represented Dingle in a divorce case, said she had battled substance abuse in the past.
"According to the family, she's been sober for approximately three years but recently relapsed," he said. "So they're devastated, and their hearts and prayers go out to the family members of the" victims.
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