'Rare case' called for murder charges in wrong-way crash deaths of Farmington Hills couple
A funeral sure to brim with heartbreak is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday in Farmington for the married couple who died a week earlier when their SUV was struck head-on by a speeding truck going the wrong way on the Lodge Freeway.
The crash, near Civic Center Drive at 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 6, took the lives of Ryan Ambrosio, 45, and Jennifer Dormitorio Ambrosio, 43. The crash left without parents the Ambrosios' six children, ages 2 through 9. Their mom and dad had been out on a date night, according to friends’ online comments. They were struck by a man driving without headlights as he fled from police. They will be eulogized at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church at 23815 Power Road, not far from where the family lived in Farmington Hills.
The dual tragedy, along with winsome photos of the Ambrosio family, has brought more than $512,000 in GoFundMe contributions from donors nationwide. And pledges were still coming in on Friday night, along with heartfelt expressions of sympathy. The suspect, Angel Melendez-Ortiz, 35, of Romulus, faces eight felony charges, topped by two counts of second-degree murder — a rare charge in cases of highway mayhem, according to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office.
"Charging murder in traffic deaths is difficult. This was the rare case that gave us enough evidence,” a spokesman said. This case shows "elements of intentionality on the part of the defendant" because Melendez-Ortiz turned off the headlights of the truck that he allegedly had just stolen, and he was repeatedly driving the wrong way on major roadways. The tragedy began when Michigan State Police identified a stolen truck, taken from behind a gas station on Eight Mile Road, traveling near Greenfield and Eight Mile, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Officers attempted to stop the truck near the Southfield Freeway. As State Police converged on the 2006 Ford Super Duty truck, the driver almost struck one patrol car, then sped off at more than 100 m.p.h., according to authorities, who gave this account of what led to tragedy:
Officers gave chase, following the truck onto northbound Lodge and then onto northbound Telegraph, after which the driver turned off the truck’s headlights, then used the median to turn around and resume driving at high speed on the northbound lanes but now southbound.
Next, the fleeing driver went the wrong way down an exit ramp from the Lodge Freeway and headed south in the freeway’s northbound lanes, still with his lights out, until he reached the area near Civic Center Drive in Southfield. That's where he allegedly crashed head-on, at high speed, into the Ambrosio’s 2011 GMC Terrain. Both husband and wife were pronounced dead at the scene.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said she approved “the highest possible charges” in the case.
“We will pursue justice for these victims and their entire family, including their young children,” McDonald said at a news conference this week, before the suspect’s arraignment on Wednesday. Besides the two counts of second-degree murder, Melendez-Ortiz has been charged with two counts of first-degree fleeing and eluding police causing death, two counts of reckless driving causing death, and two counts of operating a vehicle with license suspended or revoked causing death. He faces a sentence of up to life in prison.
On Friday, Melendez-Ortiz was in custody at a local hospital, where he was being treated for injuries he suffered in the crash; and his 29-year-old passenger, a Detroit woman, who was not charged in the incident, was also treated for injuries, according to police.
Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Prosecutor calls for murder charges in Farmington Hills couple's crash
