GRAND RAPIDS (WWJ) -- The driver involved in a west Michigan car crash last summer that killed one teen and severely injured another pleaded no contest to consuming both alcohol and "whippits" beforehand.
Ryan Michael Carter, 27, entered the pleas Thursday to four felonies for the July 6 crash on northbound U.S. 131 near the I-196 interchange in Grand Rapids, according to MLive.
Carter was driving a Ford F-150 at about 3:30 a.m. with two teenage passengers when the crash happened.
Afterwards, police said he fled the scene on foot.
One of the passengers in the truck, 15-year-old Clifford Irving Benson, died at the scene. The other passenger, 15-year-old Mirelis Culbeaux, was severely injured.
MLive reported that, according to the prosecutor, Carter had picked up the two teens and others before going to some type of house party. At the party, he consumed alcohol and “whippets” or inhalants that “substantially affected his ability to operate this motor vehicle.”
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Carter pleaded no contest to the following counts: operating while intoxicated causing death, failing to stop at the scene of an accident when at fault causing death, operating while intoxicated causing serious injury and failing to stop at the scene of an accident causing serious injury or death.
Carter will be sentenced on July 11.
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