Driver sentenced to decades in prison for crash that killed 2 cyclists
IONIA, Mich. (WOOD) — An Ionia woman has been sentenced to decades behind bars for a crash that killed two cyclists and injured three others who were taking part in a Make-A-Wish bicycle ride.
On Tuesday, Mandy Marie Benn was sentenced by 8th Circuit Court Judge Ronald Schafer to two consecutive 35- to 60-year terms in prison for two second-degree murder convictions and lesser terms for the other convictions.
“This is not an accident. What you did was clearly not an accident. It was a series of intentional decisions that you made even starting the day before,” the judge said before issuing his sentence. “There was a series of choices you made at some point to ingest this cocktail of narcotics, and that led to everything we saw.”
The crash happened on July 30, 2022, on Stage Road in Ronald Township, northeast of Ionia. Two cyclists were killed: Edward Erickson, 48, of Ann Arbor, and Michael Salhaney, 57, of Bloomfield Hills. Three others were hurt.
“My brother was killed by the irresponsibility and negligence of a driver who has taken no ownership of her choices and actions and shows no remorse. She had all the tools in her toolbox to make the right decisions and didn’t,” Susan Salhaney, Michael Salheny’s sister, said during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.
In October, a jury found Benn guilty on all 15 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, three counts of possessing prescription drugs, two counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious death and two counts of reckless driving causing death.
Driver convicted for crash that killed 2 cyclists
The Ionia County Sheriff’s Office said Benn was driving northbound behind a UPS truck. When the truck slowed, deputies said Benn used the southbound lane to pass, driving into the path of bicyclists participating in a bicycle tour with Make-A-Wish, called Wish-A-Mile.
Deputies said Benn apparently did not see the bicyclists before she hit them. They said the crash happened on a straight road with nothing obstructing her line of vision.
Prosecutor: Driver used sedatives before deadly crash
The prosecution said evidence from a lab in Pennsylvania showed that Benn had a prescription medication called Lorazepam, a sedative, in her system at the time of the crash. The medicine had not been prescribed to her.
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