Veteran construction worker killed on I-75 in Detroit when suspected drunken driver crashes
57-year-old Bay City man pinned against trailer
By Shawn Ley - Reporter
June 14, 2018
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Detroit woman charged in death of construction worker on I-75
Detroit Free Press staff
June 17, 2018
A Detroit woman has been charged in the fatal highway crash that took the life of a construction worker last week.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has charged 22-year-old Samiya Speed with operating a motor vehicle causing death; driving with license suspended causing death; moving violation (careless driving) in a work zone causing death, and operating while intoxicated second offense.
On June 14 at 1:45 a.m. Speed allegedly was under the influence of alcohol in a construction zone on I-75 near Warren in Detroit when she ran into construction worker David Snell and killed the 57-year-old Bay City man. The crash caused Speed's car to roll over. She was placed under arrest by Michigan State Police troopers at the scene.
Speed is expected to be arraigned after 11:00 a.m. today in 34th District Court in Romulus.
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DETROIT, MI - Employees at C.A. Hull Contractors in Walled Lake are heartbroken after one of their own was killed while working Thursday morning on I-75 in Detroit. David Snell, 57, of Bay City, had worked for the company for more than 20 years. He was a father and husband.
He was working along northbound I-75 when a suspected drunk driver hit him. Michigan State Police had to shut down the interstate for hours at Warren Avenue.
David Snell was killed when a vehicle struck him on I-75 in Detroit on June 14, 2018. (WDIV) Snell's company said he and a crew of his coworkers were putting up protective barriers for themselves early Thursday morning as they prepared for bridge repair work. That's when the driver of a SUV veered into the construction zone and rolled the vehicle into a work truck. Snell was pinned against a trailer. He suffered massive injuries and died.
Another one of the construction workers was hit by the vehicle, too, but is expected to be OK. He suffered minor injuries, but remains very shaken up after watching his coworker get killed.
A construction worker was struck and killed by a vehicle June 14, 2018 on I-75 in Detroit. (WDIV)
State police suspect the woman driving the SUV was drunk at the time of the crash. She was arrested.
Lt. Michael Shaw said this was totally preventable.
"These types of incidents are totally preventable. You take the drunk from behind the wheel, and it just won't happen. This was a fully-marked construction zone, barrels and arrow boards, attenuator, everything you could possibly used to protect a construction worker who is trying to make a living, and here comes another driver who didn't do the right thing," said Shaw.
State police are investigating.
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Bay City road worker killed on I-75 by alleged drunken driver
Jun 14, 2018
By Bob Johnson
bob_johnson@mlive.com
DETROIT, MI -- A Bay City man has been identified as the construction worker killed by an alleged drunken driver on Interstate 75 at Warren Avenue in Detroit early Thursday, June 14, according to Michigan State Police.
About 12:50 a.m. the worker was killed and another injured when a GMC Terrain operated by a female driver driving northbound on I-75 struck them.
The victim in this crash has been identified as David Snell, 57, of Bay City.
According to police, the driver ran off the road to the right into a closed and barreled-off lane in an active construction zone with a truck blocking the lane. The right exit lane to I-94 was closed and blocked.
The driver collided with the front of the truck/attenuator and continued off to the right and hit two workers who were hooking a trailer up to a Ford pickup.
The GMC overturned and came to rest in the roadway. One of the pedestrian construction workers died as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash. The second received minor injuries. Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash and the female driver is in custody.
Police said they are awaiting toxicology from the blood test of the driver, crash examination from a re-constructionist and the medical examiner's report.
Once those items are obtained, MSP will submit the complaint to the prosecutor's office. The driver will be detained for 24 hours to ensure she is not under the influence of any intoxicants and released pending charges, according to police.
Police said the two construction workers were not Michigan Department of Transportation or Wayne County employees, but were employed by a contracted private company.
Snell was an employee of C.A. hall and formerly employed by Gerace Construction, according to his obituary. He is survived by his wife Rachel Snell, children T.J., David and Krista, and several grandchildren, nieces and nephews.