He was also speeding and talking on a cell phone seconds before the crash, according to police reports.
KALAMAZOO, MI – Police reports show the driver who struck and killed Comstock Fire Chief Ed Switalski had marijuana in his system, and was speeding and talking on his phone in the moments leading up to the crash.
Brandon Wayne Clevenger, 24, of Springfield, faces a charge of reckless driving causing death in the June 14 crash. Police reports on the incident were released to the Kalamazoo Gazette Wednesday through the Freedom of Information Act.
Sheriff’s deputies and Comstock firefighters were on the scene of a slide-off crash on eastbound I-94 near mile marker 81. Fire trucks, a tow truck, and an ambulance were at the scene with flashing lights on. A Comstock fire truck was parked in the road as a “blocker” to protect emergency personnel from traffic, and signs with digital arrows pointing left were behind the engine.
Firefighters were looking for the driver of the vehicle in the slide-off when they heard a crash at 10: 08 p.m.
“On the way to the crash site, I saw a Comstock firefighter inside the Pride Care ambulance, ” Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Deputy Timothy Hulinek wrote in a police report. “I asked him what he needed and what I could help (with) . He stopped and looked at me with a devastating look, saying the other accident involved their fire chief Ed Switalksi and he is unresponsive.”
Switalski’s own firefighters performed CPR on him before he was pronounced dead at the scene at 10: 55 p.m.
Comstock firefighter Nathan Overholser told Hulinek that Switalski’s Ford Expedition department SUV was parked four to six feet in front of his, with the driver’s side tires between the white line and rumble strips. Overholser said both he and Switalski were walking toward the initial crash, but Switalski had turned around to get something from his car. Switalski was struck at the rear of his vehicle, and the impact threw him 15 to 20 feet.
A witness to Clevenger’s driving, Kathleen Locke, told police Clevenger’s 2006 Mercury Montego passed her on the shoulder between the vehicle she was in and the concrete median, then struck the wall and careened across the lanes of traffic. Locke said she saw the vehicle slide in front of the fire truck and then strike the rear of Switalski’s SUV. She said she and others in her car did not see Switalski behind the SUV and did not see him get hit.
Police officers pulled data from Clevenger’s vehicle, which showed it was going between 87 and 90 mph before his car struck the concrete barrier, and he applied the brakes.
“The actions of the driver of the Mercury were reckless, ” Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Sgt. George Beuckelaere wrote in a report. Beuckelaere noted visibility would have been affected by the time of day and rain that was falling, and that Clevenger took no actions to slow his car as he approached the scene where multiple emergency vehicles had their emergency lights on.
“As a result of his actions, the Mercury slid out of control and impacted the (Comstock Fire Chief’s) SUV and Chief Switalski. This resulted in the death of Ed Switalski.”
Clevenger was injured in the crash and was taken to Borgess Medical Center.
Data taken from Clevenger’s cell phone showed he was talking to his fiance, Breanna Packer, while driving and disconnected seconds before the crash, according to the police reports.
When Clevenger was interviewed at Borgess that evening, he told police he couldn’t remember where he was coming from and whether he fell asleep or lost control of the vehicle. He told an officer the last thing he remembered was getting to work at 1: 45 p.m. at Bower’s Manufacturing Company in Kalamazoo. He said he remembers it was raining while he was driving that night. He denied using marijuana or street drugs and said he didn’t drink alcohol.
Sheriff’s deputies obtained a search warrant for Clevenger’s medical records, which showed a drug screen of his urine two days after the crash tested positive for marijuana. The positive test did not include a quantitative level, and Borgess told a sheriff deputy the screen would only have been a presumptive test and the sample would not have been retained.
Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Pali Matyas said although the test showed there was marijuana in Clevenger’s system, the standard test doesn’t provide a reading for how much of the drug was in a person’s system.
“Without a quantitative analysis, we were hard put to charge” Clevenger with a crime involving use of a controlled substance, Matyas said.
The charge he faces – reckless driving causing death – is a 15-year felony. If authorities were to charge him with a crime like operating while intoxicated causing death, he also would face a maximum of 15 years, and if convicted, the sentences would run concurrently, said Kalamazoo County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Scott Brower.
Brower said when hospital staffs draw blood for medical purposes when someone is injured in a crash they don’t need to know the quantified amount of a substance, just the presence of a substance in a person’s system.
“For medical purposes a presumption of the presence of drugs is all that’s needed, ” Brower said. But he noted that’s not enough for legal purposes.
The police reports say it’s not possible for the sheriff’s office to perform additional tests on the urine sample taken by Borgess because it was destroyed by the hospital.
Clevenger is due back in court for a preliminary examination on evidence against him Sept. 28.
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