Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting also charged Charles Pickett Jr. of Battle Creek on Thursday with four counts of reckless driving in the crash Tuesday that injured four others in Cooper Township north of Kalamazoo. Prosecutors say he was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that plowed into a group of bicycle riders.
Advertisement
On Wednesday evening, hundreds of cyclists gathered in Kalamazoo to pay tribute to the five who died, with footage of part of their ride posted to Facebook. On Wednesday, Johnson was hospitalized in fair condition and Gobble, Jeske and Runnels were in serious condition.
Authorities began receiving calls about the blue pickup truck about 30 minutes before the crash, with people complaining “about the manner in which that vehicle was being driven”, Getting said. The group was five miles into a weekly 30-mile ride when Pickett struck them from behind on a road in the western MI countryside.
The driver of the pickup, described as a 50-year-old western MI man, fled from the wrecked vehicle, but police caught him a short time later.
He said Pickett was “medically unable” to be arraigned Thursday, but he may be able Friday. Runnels, at the same hospital, remains in serious condition.
A local man who remembers Pickett said he at one time worked in auto fix for a vehicle dealer in Dayton.
Paul Gobble is in serious condition and Jennifer Johnson is in fair condition at Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo. The charges were authorized by District Judge Christopher Haenicke at the request of Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting.
They called themselves “The Chain Gang” – a group of bicyclists drawn together by zest for their sport, physical fitness and love of the outdoors whose day trip in the southwestern MI countryside ended tragically as a pickup truck plowed into them, killing five and injuring four others.
A day trip in the southwestern MI countryside ended tragically for a group of bicyclists when a pickup truck plowed into them.
“They’re the kind of folks you’d want to have as friends, level-headed, smart”, West said.
Advertisement
The driver, a 50-year-old man who fled but was caught by police shortly afterward, remained in custody Wednesday.
