Sometimes, in certain situations where people are put on the spot, they may do or say things that they later regret. This can be especially true when a person is confronted by law enforcement in Kalamazoo. This type of authority figure can be intimidating, and a person may find him or herself admitting to things that actually were not his or her fault.

This seems to be the case for an 18-year-old who was charged with seven felony charges for underage drinking and driving and causing a car accident that took the lives of five people and injured two others last March. He told authorities that he was driving the SUV that they estimated was going faster than 105 mph on the freeway when it hit a van in the early morning hours. His blood alcohol was tested and came back as 0.12.

The man appeared in court where the lead investigator in the case testified that due to DNA evidence found in the car, that the man could not have been driving it at the time of the accident. The man’s lawyer said that the man was intimidated by the other man who was driving the car into telling authorities that he was the driver.

With the help of his lawyer, the man was cleared of all the charges which could have netted him a stay behind bars for 2 to 20 years for each charge. He has been in jail for more than three months on a $3.5 million bond. He will be processed and released from custody. Because he led authorities to believe he was the driver, he could face an obstruction charge, but the prosecutor in the case said that would be unlikely.

Source: ABC 6, “DUI case dismissed in Nevada crash that killed 5,” Ken Ritter, July 10, 2013