KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM/FM) — The driver who was allegedly behind the wheel when his car flew into the front of a Metro Transit Bus a month ago was going in excess of 100 mph and accelerating in the seconds before he tore off the front of the bus with his car just west of downtown Kalamazoo.
The car was reportedly cutting across a grassy median at Oakland Drive and Michigan Avenue when it flew off the curb and into the bus.
The collision was captured on the dashboard video camera of a public safety cruiser.
A preliminary report on the investigation released by Public Safety revealed that the black box recorder on Michael Spencer’s Pontiac Grand Prix showed the car reached a top speed of 111 mph as it approached the bus and the accelerator was pressed all the way through.
The brake was never applied.
The report claims that Spencer told detectives who interviewed him after the crash that he had little memory of that event, insisting he was having some sort of mental episode at the time.
Spencer has four previous arrests for driving under the influence and had a suspended license on the day of the crash. Tests results are still pending on whether he was also intoxicated on May 24th, when the bus crash occurred.
He has not yet been charged.
Veteran Bus Driver Lashon Diallo, who had to have one of her legs amputated because of the crash, has reportedly been transferred from Bronson Hospital to an interim rehab facility and will eventually be transferred to Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids.
Several passengers also suffered non-life threatening injuries.
