MASON — A man charged in connection with the deaths of two road construction workers on U.S. 127 in May was driving more than 86 mph seconds before his vehicle struck the two men on the shoulder of the road, police said.
Investigators extracted that information from the Ford Edge they said Tyler Reck was driving when the crash occured on the northbound side of the freeway near Holt Road in Alaiedon Township, an Ingham County Sheriff’s deputy testifed in a warrant hearing.
Minutes before, a witness said, a vehicle that ended up on its roof at the crash scene was the same vehicle that had come up behind her in the left northbound lane on Cedar Street in Mason, when the driver had sounded the horn “repeatedly” and cut in front of her before getting on the ramp to northbound U.S. 127, the deputy testified.
Tyler Cameron Reck, 24, of DeWitt, was arraigned July 30 in 55th District Court in Mason on two counts each of reckless driving causing death and moving violation causing death, court records show. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison upon conviction.
Reck’s attorney, Andrew Abood, said he’s in the process of investigating the case and noted his client is devastated by the tragedy.
“There have been a lot of people who have commented about this construction site and how it was being managed,” he said. “Whether it was accident or a crime is yet to be determined.”
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Officials said Bruce Wagner, 51, and Steve Spenle, 49, both of Mason, were on a pavement patching crew working on the northbound side of the freeway when they were struck and killed on May 26.
Reck lost control in the northbound lanes before his crossover SUV struck Wagner and Spenle and rolled, authorities said. Reck suffered critical injuries, and speed was believed to be a factor in the crash, Ingham County Sheriff’s Office officials said at the time.
Wagner and Spenle worked for the Michigan Department of Transportation. They were part of a rolling pothole repair crew working along the side of the highway, MDOT said.
There were two work vehicles on the shoulder of the road, both with lights activated, when the crash happened, the deputy testified. Both Wagner and Spenle also were on the shoulder of the road, he said.
In that situation, drivers are requred to move to the left lane, or if it’s not safe to do so, cut their speed to 10 mph hour below the speed limit, the deputy testified. That would be 60 mph on that stretch of road, he said.
“From evidence on scene from the vehicle and witness testimony, (Reck) was in the left lane or the fast lane, lost control as he went into the right lane or slow lane and then continued to lose control on the shoulder, striking workers and MDOT equipment,” the deputy told a magistrate.
Two witnesses said they saw someone in a black SUV driving aggressively on Cedar Street before getting onto the freeway ahead of them and speeding off, according to the testimony. One of those people said he couldn’t say for certain the rolled-over vehicle he saw on the freeway was the same vehicle, but another witness said it was the same vehicle that had cut in front of her on Cedar Street.
Information downloaded from the Edge’s airbag control module recorded the vehicle’s speed during the five seconds leading up to the crash, the deputy testified. The fastest speed was 86.37 mph four-and-a-half seconds before the crash, he said.
Police estimated the vehicle’s speed at 63.35 mph to 77.59 mph as it was yawing across the right lane toward the shoulder, the deputy testified.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Man was driving 86 mph before MDOT workers fatally struck, police say
Reporting by Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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By Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
