Man pleads no contest to causing January 2020 crash that injured Clayton store employee

David Panian, The Daily Telegram
·3 min read

ADRIAN — A Manitou Beach man this week pleaded no contest to a charge that he was driving drunk in January 2020 when he crashed into a Clayton convenience store, causing serious injuries to an employee inside.

The crash happened shortly after 5 p.m. Jan. 21, 2020, at the PS Food Mart and Citgo gas station at 10995 W. Carleton Road when the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado pickup Gary Franklin Krohn was driving crashed into the store.

Plywood covers the hole Jan. 23, 2020, near the front entrance inside of the PS Food Mart in Clayton where a pickup crashed Jan. 21, 2020, seriously injuring employee Eva Gonzalez. Gonzalez's employee of the month plaque is on the desk. The pickup's driver, Gary Franklin Krohn, pleaded no contest May 11, 2022, to operating while intoxicated causing serious injury.

Krohn, who was 72 at the time of the crash, pleaded no contest Wednesday in Lenawee County Circuit Court to operating while intoxicated causing serious injury. The plea agreement says Krohn will serve no more than 60 days in jail initially, Circuit Judge Anna Marie Anzalone said.

Anzalone asked Krohn if he understood that the maximum penalty is up to 5 years in prison and if he violates probation he could go to prison.

"Yes," Krohn said.

The charge also includes driver's license and vehicle forfeiture, Anzalone said.

"Did they take your car already?" Anzalone asked.

"Yes," Krohn replied.

A no contest plea is typically entered in cases like this where a defendant may face civil liability, but the plea is treated like a guilty plea for sentencing.

Shortly after the crash, Michigan State Police said the pickup missed an entrance to the store's parking and gas pump area, went through a ditch and then directly at the store’s southwest entrance. The front of the pickup came partially through the building, crashing through the window to the right of the store’s main entrance and injuring employee Eva Gonzalez.

More: Employee hospitalized after Clayton gas station crash

Reading from the police report to establish the factual basis for the plea, Krohn's attorney, Charles Noe of Adrian, said falling debris from the crash injured Gonzalez, causing internal bleeding, fractures and other serious injuries.

Anzalone found that Krohn was driving while intoxicated and struck the building, causing Gonzalez's injuries.

Gonzalez was working at the store's checkout counter when the pickup struck the building near where she was working. She was transported by Hudson Fire Department ambulance to Henry Ford Jackson Hospital for treatment of her injuries.

Another store employee, Amanda Osborne, told The Daily Telegram two days after the crash that the pickup driver, later identified as Krohn, tried to drive away. He backed into the ditch he initially drove through, but the pickup got stuck. Osborne asked a customer to go stop the driver, and the customer was able to get to the pickup, take the keys and wait for emergency personnel to arrive.

Noe said a blood test showed Krohn's blood alcohol level at 0.151, which is almost twice Michigan's legal limit of 0.08. He said because of the crash troopers did not perform field sobriety tests but reported smelling alcohol on Krohn and observing that his speech was slurred and he was unsteady on his feet.

Gonzalez spent about 10 days in the hospital before being discharged to continue her recovery, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help her.

Anzalone scheduled sentencing for June 23.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Man pleads no contest to causing crash that injured store employee