Court Watching: Driver in fatal VBT accident bound over

On June 24 at the 34th District Court Chief Judge Tina Brooks Green ordered that John Charles Hagadorn, Jr., 19, be bound over to the higher court to face three felony charges in a fatal traffic accident.
He is due to be arraigned on the information by Circuit Court Judge David Groner at 9 a.m. July 8 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit on charges of operating while intoxicated causing death, reckless driving causing death, and operating a vehicle with any blood alcohol content while under the age of 21.
Hagadorn, who was injured in the crash and fire that killed his cousin on April 27, 2014, in Van Buren Township, was present for a probable cause hearing before Judge Green on May 13. Looking very fragile and unsteady, he was accompanied by his retained attorney Michael Vincent.
Hagadorn’s grandmother was in the courtroom and told the judge that she is taking care of John because of his many injuries. She said both boys involved in the accident were her grandsons.
The grandmother said John suffered a closed-head injury, burned arm, face, leg, and ankle and twisted knee. Vincent said he had loss of sight and hearing, right knee surgery, and fourth-degree burns on his left leg.
His grandmother said John needs the plates and pins in his foot completely redone, but he turned 19 and the insurance dropped.
Vincent said a witness said the car was on fire prior to the accident. He said that Cobalt Chevrolet had a leaky fuel valve and, “GM killed that young man.”
“He was drunk, there was an accident, somebody died,” Judge Green said, adding that it is a tragedy.
Hagadorn was out on $50,000 personal recognizance bond and his preliminary exam was held June 24, also before Judge Green.
At that exam, Prosecutor Danielle Peterson called witness Kyle Franklin to testify.
Franklin said he was headed to work at Willow Run Airport for the 10 p.m. shift. He turned off I-94 to Michigan Avenue to eastbound Ecorse and at about 9:35 or 9:40 p.m. saw a small fire on the north side of Ecorse Road.
Franklin said he called Onstar to report the fire when he saw it was a car north of the westbound lane. He said the car was 150 yards away and he saw movement. He testified he saw someone fall out of the car through the driver’s window. He could see feet up in the air.
Franklin said he was in a pickup and drove across the median and parked his car across westbound Ecorse Road with his high-beams on the car. He said he noticed one car had stopped in the eastbound lane in front of him. He said he thought it was a Chevy Malibu.
He said he got out of his car and ran over to the person who was crawling. He said he grabbed the person’s shirt and dragged him, then stumbled on the uneven terrain.
He testified that two other guys came and dragged the person away. He said the fire was getting bigger. He testified the rear part of the vehicle was on fire.
He said because of the fire no one could get close enough to see if someone else was in there, but the driver was yelling a name. He said the driver said there had been two in the car. The driver was incoherent, Franklin said, but it sounded like he was calling “Greg.”
Franklin went back to his truck and told Onstar to get some help there ASAP and then the first police officer arrived.
Franklin recalled the person they helped was smoldering and was a white male in his early 20s or late teens. He said the person’s legs and arm were injured, his pants torn, he was bloody and his arm was bloody.
The car became fully engulfed and there were popping noises, Franklin testified, and they couldn’t tell if someone was in the vehicle.
When the fire truck arrived, he had to move his truck. Then police took his information and he went on to work and wrote his statement for the police during his break, about 2 in the morning.
Vincent questioned Franklin, who said he is an air traffic control specialist now working in Kalamazoo.
The prosecutor showed a series of pictures of the accident scene which showed the vehicle against a tree.
Franklin said he drove race cars for 13 years and had experience with situations like this.
The next witness was Michigan State Police Det./Sgt. Kevin Lucidi, who is the Traffic Crash Reconstructionist for Southeastern Michigan.
Det./Sgt. Lucidi testified on what he found the crash data retrieval unit (CDR or “black box”) said about the incident. His report was 13 pages long and he referred to it as he testified.
When questioned about the speed of the 2008 Cobalt, Det./Sgt. Lucidi explained that the CDR records readings for the last five seconds before an event. He testified the speed of the Cobalt was 96, 96, 96, 96, and then 78 mph one second before the event.
He gave other results, including that the brakes were off for the four seconds before the crash and on one second before the crash. The accelerator was pressed: 56%, 35%, 51%, 17%, and 0%.
The driver and passenger seat belts were shown to be buckled, and the air bags deployed.
The prosecutor suggested the speed may have been reduced when the car struck the fire hydrant and Det./Sgt. Lucidi said fire hydrants are designed to break away and would not stop the vehicle, but would cause a few mph reduction.
Det./Sgt. Kenneth Toney was the officer in charge and sat next to the prosecutor in the courtroom during the exam.