(WWJ) – A woman accused of crashing her car into a group of people riding their bicycles in a Make-A-Wish charity event over the summer will head to trial later this month.
Mandy Benn of Ionia was bound over for trial on Thursday for the late July incident that killed two men from Southeast Michigan. She is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 29 in Ionia County Circuit Court.
A judge ordered the 42-year-old Benn to trial after hearing testimony from witnesses, including bicyclists who survived the crash. The judge called the case “senseless and tragic,” according to a report from WZZM in Grand Rapids.
The Ionia County Sheriff’s Office received calls around 11:15 a.m. on July 30 reporting the crash in Ronald Township, about 40 miles east of Grand Rapids. Michael Salhaney, 57 of Bloomfield Hills, and Edward Erickson, 48, of Ann Arbor were killed.
During Thursday’s court hearing attorneys played audio recordings Benn made moments before the crash in which she mentioned she wanted to kill herself, as well as video of the crash, including body and dash-cam footage.
A homeowner who lives near the scene of the crash said they saw a body flying “very high” through the air.
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While prosecutors say Benn, who was charged back in 2017 with operating while visibly impaired, wasn’t speeding at the time of the crash she was under the influence of a “cocktail of drugs,” including Benzodiazepine.
MLive reported an Ionia County Sheriff’s detective noted Benn “nodded off” in a police car following the crash and said her reaction was “like she was from a different planet” when he walked Benn past the scene of the crash. Benn allegedly told him “that almost looks real.”
Benn is facing a slew of charges, including two counts each of second-degree murder, operating under the influence causing death, reckless driving causing death, operating under the influence causing serious injury and reckless driving causing serious impairment of a body function, according to WZZM.
She’s also been charged with possession of analog drugs.
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