Truck with plow hits car, teen dies

FRUITPORT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - A pickup driver who police say was talking on a cell phone when he struck and killed a man along U.S. 31 should face charges, said the victim's best friend, who was injured in the crash.

"That pisses me off," said Thomas Fazi, 17, of Muskegon. "Like, he should be charged with something, like manslaughter, right there."

Fazi's friend, 19-year-old Corey McNett, was killed in the crash around 12:45 a.m. Sunday.

Although police said the pickup driver was on his cell phone during the collision, on Monday he denied that claim through his attorney.

McNett and Fazi were driving home and about two miles away on U.S. 31, north of Shettler Road, when the Ford Taurus ran out of gas, police said. They pulled along the right shoulder.

McNett, who lived with Fazi's family, gassed up the car and was putting the gas can back in the trunk when a northbound pickup, with a snow plow, veered right and struck him and the Taurus, police said. The collision pushed the car 30 feet, and McNett 20 feet beyond that.

"I just remember getting hit really hard and then the car flying a couple, a little bit, and shattered glass everywhere and getting up and I see Corey's body laying there," Fazi said.

He got up, then fell down in pain with bumps and bruises. He recalls a Good Samaritan who stopped.

"She just hugged me right away because I was crying, because I saw Corey laying there," he said.

Fazi said the pickup driver, "just started saying, 'sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.' I said, 'You can't be sorry, dude, it's already done."

He also recalls how the pickup driver tried to check on McNett, who lay in the snow.

"The cops told him, nobody, to touch the body and the dude kept on trying to touch his body, like just grab his arm, see if he's OK and I told him to just stop touching him," Fazi said.

After Fazi left the hospital, he learned his friend was dead.

"I've been crying all day and just, just crying," he said. "I just want him back."

Fazi said McNett was a good friend who loved skateboarding and making people laugh. He had attended Grand Haven High School and recently was looking for a job, he said.

Police identified the pickup driver as 32-year-old Jeremy Griffin, of Muskegon.

Officials are waiting for results from blood samples taken from Griffin, before the case is turned over to the Muskegon County prosecutor.