Trial starts in 2021 crash that caused death of Blissfield man

ADRIAN — Jurors began hearing testimony Tuesday in a case in which a Blissfield man is accused of causing a one-car crash that killed his friend during Memorial Day weekend in 2021.

William Michael Badger Jr., 51, is charged with operating while intoxicated causing death and reckless driving causing death. David Campbell, 78, of Blissfield died in the crash on the afternoon of May 30, 2021, in a ditch along Lipp Highway just south of Ottawa Lake Road in Riga Township. The trial in Lenawee County Circuit Court is expected to continue into next week.

Badger faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of either charge.

Previous coverage: Blissfield man appears in court for OWI charges

Badger's attorney, Patrick O'Keefe of Lansing, told the jurors in his opening statement that their defense is based on the reliability of the blood sample that yielded the 0.18 blood alcohol content the OWI charge is based upon. It was collected at the hospital in Toledo where Badger was taken after the crash. O'Keefe said the blood was drawn for medical purposes and was handled by the hospital and lab staff in the manner that they routinely handle medical specimens. He said the sample was not handled the way police would in order to preserve the chain of evidence.

"The accuracy of this quote-unquote test is very much in question," O'Keefe said. "… The government botched this investigation, and they botched it badly."

Lenawee County Assistant Prosecutor Douglas Hartung told jurors that Badger refused a Lenawee County deputy sheriff's request for a blood sample for the crash investigation, which was his right.

Michigan's legal blood alcohol limit for drunken driving is 0.08.

Hartung told the jurors that Badger was driving the 2003 Lexus SC 430 convertible that afternoon when it crashed upside down into the ditch, breaking Campbell's neck. O'Keefe called the crash "an unspeakable tragedy."

Hartung said Badger tried to help Campbell as both were trapped in the car, which was wedged into the ditch that had water in it.

"It must have been horrifying to go through that if you're Mr. Badger, even worse if you're Mr. Campbell," Hartung said.

The crash investigation, he said, showed Badger was driving southbound on Lipp Highway at a high rate of speed approaching Ottawa Lake Road. He said Badger went through the stop sign at Ottawa Lake Road without slowing down. Lipp changes from asphalt to gravel pavement at Ottawa Lake Road, and the car appeared to go airborne at the intersection, then landed on the gravel, causing Badger to lose control of the car, which eventually overturned and went into the deep drainage ditch on the west side of Lipp.

Jurors heard Tuesday from Campbell's wife, Karen Campbell, and a woman who witnessed the crash.

Holiday weekend gathering

On May 30, 2021, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, the Campbells were getting things organized for a cookout at their home on Jipson Street when Badger stopped by, Karen said. He lived a few houses down the street, and he and David would regularly get together with their dogs.

David said it was OK for Badger to come over so the dogs could play. He offered to get some beer from their RV's fridge, but Badger said he no longer drank beer, only liquor. David then retrieved the only liquor he had, an expensive bottle of whiskey that had been a Christmas gift from one of their sons, and poured glasses of whiskey over ice for himself and Badger. His glass was smaller, holding about 3 ounces, while Badger's was larger, holding about 6 ounces.

Karen said she was rinsing some dust off her Lexus, which she had only owned for a few weeks, when Badger offered to wax the car for her. She declined his offer, but he insisted and went to get some wax and rags. He was admiring the car, she said, and told her, "If this was my car, I'd be driving the s--- out of it."

Over the next hour or so, Badger proceeded to wax the car, Karen said. During this time, he and David finished their first drinks and David poured them some more. Karen said she accidentally kicked over Badger's glass while he was waxing the car, so David refilled his glass, which Badger later kicked over himself. She couldn't say how much if any whiskey Badger drank from the second or third glass.

When they started, the bottle was about half full. With it now being empty, Badger offered to go get more liquor. Karen said David said he didn't want more but Badger could go buy what he wanted. She suggested that they go buy a bottle of liquor to compensate Badger for waxing the car and let Badger drive the Lexus since he was admiring it.

Badger and David left at about 4 p.m. to go to a nearby liquor store, Karen said. As David and Badger drove off in the Lexus, Karen said, she jokingly called out to them that if they got stopped by the police that the insurance certificate was in the glove box and reminded them that the license plate was from her old car and hadn't been transferred yet. She said Badger jokingly replied that if she heard sirens, the police were after them. She said she had an uneasy feeling as they left.

While they were gone, Karen said, she went to buy ice at a gas station. While she was there, she heard sirens. When she got home, he said their dog was on the deck and looked at her, cried and whimpered, and went inside and laid down on his bed. David and Badger had not returned, so she tried calling David's cellphone and got no answer. She didn't know Badger's phone number, so she tried calling some people who she thought might have it.

Around 4:45-5 p.m., her brother and sister-in-law arrived for the cookout, Karen said. She told them she thought something bad had happened because David and Badger had not returned. She said she would go to wherever the emergency vehicles she had heard earlier had gone if she knew where they were going. Her sister-in-law used her phone to look up where they might have been going and learned there had been a crash on Lipp Highway.

They drove out to the crash location and could see emergency lights but not the Lexus, Karen said. They eventually talked to a tow truck driver who told them one person had been taken to a hospital. Later, they talked to Deputy William Warner who confirmed that David had died.

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Karen described conversations she had with Badger since the crash. She said he apologized, but led her to believe the car was not badly damaged. However, when she first saw it around July 4 at the tow company's yard, it was "demolished." During other conversations, she said, Badger suggested that Campbell died from an aortic aneurysm and not injuries from the crash, that she shouldn't let police have the "black box" from the car that would have information about how it was being driven before the crash, and that when she asked him about not letting the deputy get a blood sample, he said he would "make them work for it."

In one conversation, Karen said, Badger let her look at his hospital chart on a phone app. As a nurse, she said, she was able to read it and could see it showed the hospital recorded his blood alcohol content at 0.18. When she told him that, she said, he replied that it wasn't true and it must have been from the alcohol swab used to clean his arm before the needle was inserted or from his diabetic medication. She said her medical experience is that when blood is drawn the first vial is discarded because of any possible contamination from the alcohol swab.

Crash witness

Kasondra Robinson testified about witnessing the crash. She said she and her boyfriend were outside their home just east of the intersection of Ottawa Lake Road and Lipp Highway, replacing their mailbox across the road from their home. She said they initially heard a loud noise, like an engine accelerating.

They then saw the convertible headed southbound at a high rate of speed. She estimated it was going 80 to 90 mph. She said it went through the stop sign, hit the gravel portion of Lipp Highway and fishtailed out of control, then a big cloud of dirt was kicked up. She called 911 as and she and her boyfriend drove their pickup out to find the crash, which was further down the road than they expected, and found the car upside down, wedged into the ditch so the doors couldn't be opened. She could hear a man inside calling for help and talking to someone else in the car who was not responding.

They called to their house to ask her son to bring a tool that they could use try to pry open a door. He brought a long, metal rod with a pick on one end that's used for ice fishing, but they couldn't open either door. Her boyfriend tried to find someone nearby, perhaps a farmer with a tractor and some straps, who could try to move the car, but he couldn't find anyone who could help.

Eventually, a tow truck arrived, and the driver was able to lift one side of the car so emergency personnel could remove Badger and Campbell.

Robinson told the court she had trouble sleeping for a long time after seeing the crash.

"I wish I could've done something to help," she said. "I felt terrible that someone was in that situation."

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Trial starts in 2021 crash that caused death of Blissfield man