GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Five months after a good Samaritan was hit while assisting at a Grand Rapids traffic crash, a driver who police say was intoxicated when he plowed into the scene has been charged with her death.
The driver, 74-year-old Willie Lee Guydon, “was under the influence of cocaine,” according to court records. He is charged with operating while intoxicated causing death, a 15-year felony.
Guydon has an appearance this week in Grand Rapids District Court. The Grand Rapids man remains in the Kent County jail on a $30,000 bond.
Police say the chain of events unfolded early on June 4 when Chelsea Anne Belden came upon a crash at 28th Street and Madison Avenue SE. In that case, a vehicle on Madison ran a flashing red light and struck a vehicle on 28th Street, Grand Rapids police said earlier.
Belden, 32, witnessed the first crash and stopped to help, court records show.
“Several minutes later, the subject, Willie Guydon, was driving eastbound on 28th Street and struck the previously crashed vehicles, causing one to strike Belden, causing her death,” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
A Grand Rapids police officer, who is a drug recognition expert, “performed sobriety tests and determined that the subject was likely under the influence of a stimulant,” court records show. “The subject’s blood test indicated cocaine.”
Data from Guydon’s vehicle indicated “he only slowed from 50 to 41 (mph) in the two seconds prior to crashing into the disabled vehicles, which does not show hard braking as one normally would in a crash situation, indicating impairment,” an officer wrote.
Guydon was booked into the Kent County jail on Oct. 31.
A call to his attorney Tuesday morning was not returned.