Charges Filed In Fatal Oceola Township Crash
July 12, 2017
Charges have been filed in the May crash in Oceola Township that killed five people.
Livingston County Prosecutor Bill Vailliencourt announced today that his office has filed charges against Matthew Jordan Carrier of Fenton. Following an investigation by the Michigan State Police from the Brighton Post, Carrier is being charged with five counts of Second Degree Murder, five counts of Operating While Intoxicated Causing Death, two counts of Operating While Intoxicated Causing Serious Injury, five counts of Driving While License Suspended Causing Death and two counts of Driving While License Suspended Causing Serious Injury. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
The charges arise out of a traffic crash at M-59 and Argentine Road on May 9th that resulted in the deaths of five individuals and serious injury to two others. Investigators say Carrier ignored a stop sign as he traveled south on Argentine Road and smashed into a vehicle as it traveled eastbound on M-59. Two people in Carrier's car died. Three people in the other vehicle died, including a probation agent who had been honored at a Corrections Department banquet earlier that night.
Vailliencourt says that under Michigan law, second degree murder applies to circumstances where someone commits an act with a high probability that it will result in death and does so in obvious disregard for human life. Carrier was arrested by police without incident and he is presently in custody in the Livingston County Jail. He will be arraigned in the 53rd District Court later today. JK)