Media and Sheriff Quick to Blame Victims, Defend Killer

Imagine yourself cruising on a motorcycle with your wife with the wind whipping through your hair on a quiet country road like South Scottville Road is around where it meets Hawley.  Imagine seeing a vehicle come to a stop sign at the end of Hawley Road as you approach the intersection, and imagine your horror when the vehicle pulls out right in front of you, totally robbing you of your right-of-way, making a collision inevitable.  Imagine yourself dying without knowing what happened to your wife, without knowing how your own death would be perceived by the rest of your family and friends. 

Sadly, this happened to a 53 year old Ludington man named Scott Butler and his wife, Melanie, who is in critical condition in a Grand Rapids hospital.  Reports of what transpired by witnesses include what happened above, nothing in the investigation has made it appear otherwise.  Yet here is how it has been reported in the media from information they get from the investigating unit of the Mason County Sheriff's Office.

The original report from the Mason County Press told us:  "According to deputies on scene, the crash occurred when a westbound Ford Fusion was attempting to make a right-hand turn onto Scottville Road. Deputies said they were told by witnesses that the Ford stopped at the stop sign and then turned into the path of the northbound motorcycle... Neither victims on the motorcycle were wearing a helmet."

The follow-up report from the MCP named the victim, described his life, and further reported:  "a Ford Fusion pulled out in front of the motorcycle at Hawley Road, causing the motorcycle to hit the passenger side of the car... the westbound Fusion was attempting to make a right-hand turn onto Scottville Road... the Ford stopped at the stop sign and then turned into the path of the northbound motorcycle. Neither Scott nor Melanie were wearing helmets."

The City of Ludington Daily News original take on the scene leaves out any mention of who was at fault:   "A motorcyclist is dead after a motorcycle-car accident on South Scottville Road at Hawley Road this evening, July 5.  A passenger on the bike was flown by Aeromed to Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids following the accident between a motorcycle and a Ford Fusion."

In an update on that same link, it mentions the name of the driver, Cassie Leigh Kozminski. a 19 year old from Houston, Texas, and further reports:  "Preliminary findings indicate Kozminski stopped the 2016 Ford Fusion she was driving at the stop sign then proceeded into the path of the Butlers' 2002 Harley-Davidson... The Butlers were not wearing helmets.

It doesn't take much for an investigation where witnesses are available to determine that the motorist erred in following the rules of right-of-way after pulling out in front of a motorcycle going down on unregulated road where the speed limit is 55 mph.  One can quickly rule out extenuating circumstances like hampered visibility or weather conditions as elements of this accident, because visibility looking south is high at that corner and the weather was a perfect summer day. 

The police and media are more than happy to report that both riders were not wearing helmets, perfectly legal to be doing and a total non-sequitur to what happened here.  And yet they could not bring themselves to the point to conclude that driver Cassie Leigh Kozminski did something totally illegal and totally negligent that ended the life of one individual and forever changed the life of another, whether they pull through or not. 

Allowing motorists to continually pull in front of motorcyclists, run over bicyclists from behind, and run into pedestrians lawfully crossing the street, killing and critically maiming them without repercussions when just an ounce of prevention (and lawful driving) could have avoided the collision is asking for this type of behavior to continue unabated. 

Reporting it to the victims' families like this is just as negligent by the police and media.  If someone killed my loved ones due to negligence and an inability to follow the law, I would want justice for the killer, not the sympathy that is commonly invoked by such articles.

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Replies to This Discussion

I'm quite sure if this accident had involved a motorcycle cop, the outlook and charges against the young Texas gal would be completely different. RIP Scott, prayers for Melanie. 

I can only imagine Begnoche's and Alway's hyperboles against the motorist in that situation, Aquaman.  My outlook would remain the same; the occupation of the victim in such a situation is inconsequential to the underlying negligence of the driver.  If we look at the case where the motorist was a police officer on duty, my outlook would change solely because they should know better than to pull out in front of a bike. 

I supply here a repugnant dash cam video of an incident that happened in Des Plaines, Illinois, where an officer fresh from making a traffic stop (likely for some minor offense) does his own major offense when he pulls out into traffic right in front of a motorcyclist, who gets thrown around the vehicle and winds up in front of the police vehicle. 

As the officer gets out of his car and stares at the man laying on the ground under his bumper. He renders ZERO aid. When all of his buddies show up, they simply stare blankly at the man on the ground as he was slipping in and out of consciousness; walking around him like he was already dead.

No vitals were checked, no “are you okays,” nothing. According to a user submitted thread on reddit the man who was hit brought his case to court and won. 

The victim also reported that he “had a few hundred dollars in his wallet as well as his cell phone in his pack back, which the police held for a few days that were missing when he got it back.”

As X pointed out in another thread, Harley's are notoriously loud, it's hard to not hear or notice them going down any highway. I still wonder if any LE officers checked her cell phone. Was she talking or texting? If so, that's negligent homicide for sure. Her phone history would surely show if that's the case, and any common sense investigator should have checked her phone for this kind of possibility. Did they check that? And if not then, how about now? Even if she erased it, her phone records should show this. Did Melanie make it? 

As of one hour ago, she's still with us according to her daughter's Facebook page.  If you want to send sympathy and/or 'get well' cards to any of the immediate family, send it to the above address. 

Still no further news about the investigation.  What I find the most irritating thing about news accounts and some comments from the readers (due largely to the way the story is presented by the sheriff and then the media) is that they will wonder about why the driver came to a complete and legal stop and then pulled out in front of the bike.

The stop may have been complete, but it was not legal.  The reason we have stop signs and the lesser restrictive 'yield' signs is for people to surrender the right-of-way to cross traffic.  If you stop as a matter of rote and then proceed in front of another road user, causing a crash, then you have not done a legal maneuver. 

Melanie Butler has died according to this Mason County Press article earlier today. 

Fifteen days after the crash, it's still under investigation.  It doesn't take a drug test to figure out these bikers had their right-of-way taken from them and they're dead now, while all we hear from the local news media is that they weren't riding with helmets and that the driver had stopped at the sign. 

News flash, riding without a helmet is lawful, but proceeding from a stop sign into the path of a vehicle that had the right-of-way is definitely not. 

RIP Melanie, sad loss. Points well taken X. Now all you have to do is convince a Sheriff that says he's been a traffic accident specialist for many years of training and experience, to admit the obvious, and agree with you. Unfortunately, based on recent history with this Sheriff, that will never happen. There seems to be an overwhelming local law enforcement attitude when it comes to State of Michigan law being applicable in Mason County, when the agenda fits the mold or not. 

She should be automatically charged with MCL 601(d) effectively 'moving violation causing death', a misdemeanor.  Ironically, Custer teacher Matt Millspaugh effectively did the same thing a few years back, drove into the path of a motorcycle, and was successfully prosecuted for the death of a married couple from Grand Rapids on a motorcycle.  Here, the married couple is from Custer, the motorist from afar, and it seems unlikely that this sheriff will prosecute with how he's handling his press releases and the elapsed time since the incident. 

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