Rachel Van Gilder, David Horak, and Amber Krycka
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The driver who hit a tow truck driver who was trying to help a dog along the highway southeast of Grand Rapids now faces a misdemeanor charge.
Payton Ferris is accused of a moving violation causing the death of Keagan Spencer, a court document dated Friday shows. The charge is punishable by up to a year in jail and/or a $2,000 fine.
The crash happened Nov. 4 on eastbound M-6 near Kraft Avenue. State police said Spencer, 25, of Hastings, was outside his tow truck, apparently stopping to help a dog, when an eastbound driver lost control, went into the median and hit him.
Spencer’s father Matt Spencer, also a tow truck driver, said he doesn’t think the misdemeanor charge is good enough.
“I was angry at first, just livid that that’s all that somebody’s life is worth,” Matt Spencer told News 8 Wednesday. “Granted, the young man that struck and killed Keagan, it was a mistake. I don’t feel any ill will towards him. It was an honest mistake, I believe that. But with that being said, we need to send a message to the community that this culture of not paying attention behind the wheel has got to change.”
He reminded people to slow down and move over for roadside workers.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said the moving violation was “the most” his office could charge based on the facts of the case.
“There’s no alcohol, no drugs, no reckless driving,” Becker said. “So we are left with a moving violation cause of death, which is a misdemeanor.”
He acknowledged Matt Spencer’s frustration, but said his office had “done everything we can under the law.”
“It’s a horrible thing, it’s a horrible death, a horrible thing that happened, but we have to follow the law,” he said. “We can’t just charge things because something extremely bad happened. We have to follow what we can prove in the court of law. What we can prove is a moving violation cause of death.”
Keagan Spencer left behind a fiancée and daughter. His father described him as “rough around the edges,” but with a “servant heart.”
“Keagan was a very outgoing young man. He spoke his mind,” his father recalled. “He was the type of person that could sit down and talk to anybody. And he had a heart of gold. He would help in any way that he could. But he also had a nickname of ‘Tiny Tornado,’ because he would come in and be the winds of change.”
A bill to rename a stretch of M-6 in Keagan Spencer’s honor is awaiting a committee hearing in the Michigan Legislature.
—News 8’s David Horak and Amber Krycka contributed to this report.
Credit: Source link
