Hitting Close to Home: Fatal Scooter Accident Conclusion is in Justice's Blind Spot

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On the last day of June of this year, a life of a Ludington man was taken way too soon in a crash that would not have happened if an elderly driver had been aware of traffic on the road he was driving on.  Air Force veteran Michael Ivinson, 35, driving a motor scooter home from his job at House of Flavors at around 4:30 PM was a little over a block from his home where his wife and kids were at when one of his neighbors, Michael McConnell, 80, turned unexpectedly in front of him with his SUV. 

Ivinson was traveling straight east on Bryant Road, McConnell had been driving west after coming off Hill Crest, travelling the 30 yards between Hill Crest and Harrison.  He admittedly never saw his scooter-driving neighbor as he stole his right-of-way by turning onto Harrison directly in front of him, causing a crash that would wind up with Ivinson dying in the roadway.  

One would expect that the SUV operator McConnell would be charged with the easily-proven charge of moving violation causing death, as his violation of right-of-way is described in MCL 257.650 and this is by definition a moving violation.  It turns out that McConnell will not even get a civil infraction for his careless part in this death of an airman.  As related recently by the local paper:

No charges to be filed from fatal crash in June

(COLDNews, 9-19 23) No charges will be filed as a result of a late June fatal crash, according to a press release from the Ludington Police Department.

On June 30, Michael Ivinson, 35, was traveling on eastbound Bryant Road at North Harrison Street when he was struck by a 2020 Chevrolet Traverse by Michael McConnell, 80, of Ludington. The Traverse was attempting to turn left from westbound Bryant Road to southbound North Harrison Street.

Ludington Police Chief Christopher Jones stated Tuesday that his department’s investigation concluded, and it was assisted by the Collision Reconstruction Unit of the Mason County Sheriff’s Office. According to the release, Mason County Prosecutor Lauren Kreinbrink declined filing charges.

“It does not appear that the death in this case resulted from any identifiable criminal activity or moving violations, or reckless intent,” Kreinbrink stated in the release.

No criminal or traffic charges will be coming from the case, the release stated.

The driver of the vehicle was Michael McConnell, 80, of Ludington. (END)

                                  Michael Ivinson and family as seen on a Gofundme page for the family following this tragedy

The MCP article about the decision not to prosecute also noted:  

"Ivinson and his wife, Mandi, had two children, ages 6 and 4. He was a 2006 graduate of Manistee High School and a U.S. Air Force veteran who had served on deployment tour in Afghanistan. He had been working as a journeyman electrician and engineer at House of Flavors manufacturing. McConnell was their neighbor."

A lot of tragic elements here, both people involved were veterans, neighbors living just outside of the city limits.  Two children will grow up without their father.  They and their widowed mother constantly reminded of the past, living next to the person whose carelessness led to the death.  Then there's Michael McConnell who will also have that constant reminder of his part in that death whenever he looks outside and sees the incomplete family.  Some may say that would be punishment enough for this man in the twilight of his life; the prosecutor apparently thinks so, absolving him of any crime in not observing right-of-way rules and taking a life.  

The smaller problem is that when you fail to prosecute the misdemeanor so evident after looking at the police report, you do not provide justice for the dead victim of the crime, and those who depended on that victim.  The larger problem is that you explicitly take away the rights of the vulnerable users of the road to travel in safety.  Their right-of-way isn't a right at all when someone turns in front of them, crowds them off the road they are lawfully entitled to, or plows into them claiming that they never saw anybody.  

I expected this would happen, police agencies and prosecutors treat vulnerable users of the road (bicyclists, motorcyclist pedestrians, etc.) as second-class citizens, unworthy of protection because in their eyes they've waived that by not traveling inside tons of steel.  That's not logical, so when I asked for the police reports and supplements in early July from the LPD, I had to fight and threaten to get the information that should have been available through FOIA (and that's another story), but I finally received the records in August. 

The report never mentions the LPD submitting this information to the prosecutor, nor did it have any kind of moving violation noted even though they explained the mechanics of what seems to have happened fairly clearly:

The driver was interviewed by two different officers and gave the same basic story:

Some of the witnesses comment on Ivinson's speed on the scooter in areas blocks away from the accident.  One sees him travelling down the hill west of Rath at a good rate of speed, another suggests he was pulling away from her when she got off Lakeshore Drive and she was travelling 33 mph.  Due to their size, scooter and motorcycle operators often have their speeds misjudged, it's a provable trick of the eye and mind.  Even the one who claims to have followed Ivinson, fails to realize that when she was less than a block behind him when he turned down Bryant, she had to slow to make the turn and wait for her cruise control to accelerate to 33 mph. 

That's how you get two blocks behind him in an area with the speed limit at 35 mph.  The two witnesses who actually saw the SUV turn in front of the scooter, noted nothing about the speed of the scooter, who would likely be slowing significantly down anyway as he was just over 30 yards from his turnoff to home before his life was snuffed out by the moving violation.  

It was a nice day out, and yet the sun would have no effect as Ivinson would be travelling up a road shaded by heavy growth of trees to the south, he should have been visible all along the approach even though the downhill has a minor dip.  As one sees in the photo below, taken from the exact point in the road where Michael McConnell would have made his decision whether to turn or not, the dip at worse does not allow you to see the lower foot of the vehicles coming at you.  Road or weather conditions were not a factor here.

Older drivers do have a harder time picking up motorcycles and scooters due somehow to the aging effects on one's eyes.  McConnell may have looked up Bryant and saw nothing even when the few seconds he was on Bryant should have gave him ample opportunity to see the scooter with his neighbor on it.  Should we absolve his crime because of this cruel trick of nature and his inability to not be more careful because of it?  

If we value the lives of our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, etc. lawfully using the road to get from one place to another, we should not.  I will continue fighting for justice for people like scooter-operator Michael Ivinson, motorcyclist Jaramie Jones, and all other victims of reckless drivers, because our police agencies and prosecutor will not.