Emergency Laced in Negligence at Emerson Lake Inn

[XLFD]

According to the Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole, an accident investigating specialist in his own right, a Chevrolet pickup truck traveling east on US 10 attempted to turn left into the parking lot of the Emerson Lake Inn, but turned in front of a westbound Honda motorcycle, which struck the passenger side of the truck. 

The following map oriented with east being up shows the path of the truck turning north into the parking lot (in red), and the motorcyclist's path, proceeding straight down the 55 mph speed limit rural highway (in green). 

Clearly, the motorcyclist was travelling down the highway as per his right, with the additional right to not have other traffic cross his path; there is no regulatory signage anywhere nearby that forfeits that.  The roadway was dry, the sun was behind the truck driver, the flat topography of the highway allows those heading east to see quite a way up the road.  How did this accident happen. 

A photo from the above link shows the damage to the motorcycle and the truck illustrating what happened.  One can only imagine what went through the mind of the biker when they saw this long truck turn right in front of them as they were cruising through this scenic country, forcing them to hit the middle of the obstacle.  One thing we know that the truck driver never saw was this motorcycle lawfully driving down the highway.

The motorcyclist was a tourist to the area, they were taken to the Ludington Spectrum Hospital before being airlifted to Grand Rapids' Butterworth Hospital with unspecified serious injuries.  Their life will never be the same again due to someone who did not follow their driving responsibilities.

On Sunday, May 27, 2012 Custer teacher Matt Millspaugh was driving south on U.S. 31 near Fountain Road. Matt was returning from a graduation open house of one of his students.  He momentarily took his eyes off the road. When he looked back up, a truck had stopped in front of him, so he steered his vehicle to the left, crossing the center line into the path of a  motorcycle, killing the two riders thereon.

Millspaugh was charged with 'moving violation causing death of another person' a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 1 year or a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or both.  There is a similar charge if the damage caused was serious.  Millspaugh, A MCE teacher with numerous community services beyond his coaching was very contrite about the incident, but was given two years of probation and 150 hours of community service for his moment of inattention.

Since 2012, numerous bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians (BMPs) in our county, have been hit, injured, and often killed, solely by the actions of inattentive motorists.  Sheriff Kim Cole, who wasn't in that position when Millspaugh was prosecuted, has not only decided to allow the drivers involved in such 'accidents' to go unpunished for the crime, but also unlawfully and unethically, has decided that he can keep records of such accidents away from the prying eyes of the public.

Witness the senseless killing of Scott and Melanie Butler by some young tourist who couldn't take an extra split-second to determine whether the roadway was clear.  I asked for the incident report for that accident back in July of 2015, a couple of weeks after it happened.  Sheriff Cole has decided that the whole report is exempt from public view, even though he has to, by law, submit an accident report form to the Michigan State Police, filled with only non-exempt data from the accident.  He is currently defying a lawsuit to produce any part of those records, his attorney arguing that the whole report is fully exempt. 

But our county isn't the only one with law enforcement and media not taking these homicides and assaults to BMPs seriously.  These vulnerable users of the road have lives that matter too, their negligent killers need to receive some degree of shame and punishment, at least to the same degree as Matt Millspaugh.