DETROIT — A 50-year-old Michigan man accused of plowing a pickup into nine cyclists, killing five of them, was denied bond at his first court appearance Friday afternoon on murder charges.
Charles Edward Pickett of Battle Creek sat quietly and motionless in an orange jumpsuit, during his video arraignment from Kalamazoo County Jail as Kalamazoo District Court Chief Judge Richard Santoni read each of the nine charges in court.
Pickett is accused of driving a blue Chevrolet pickup into a group of nine cyclists, hitting all of them, north of Kalamazoo in Cooper Township. He is charged with five counts of second-degree murder, each carrying a possible life prison sentence, and four counts of reckless driving causing serious impairment, each of which carries a possible five-year prison sentence.
The charges had been authorized on Thursday, but the arraignment was delayed because Pickett was medically unable to appear, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting said. On Friday, Pickett sat and appeared to stand afterward on his own, with no visible medical impairments. County records show he has no disabilities.
Pickett said he is unemployed but takes care of his father. He said his parents may help him get an attorney. In the meantime, Santoni assigned him a public defender.
Santoni denied bond and said that Pickett could be a flight risk, given that he previously lived in Tennessee and is facing a possible life sentence.
Booking records made public Friday show Pickett is 6 feet, 200 pounds and wears dentures. He was booked at 12:46 a.m. Wednesday by Kalamazoo Township Police Department
Getting spoke briefly with reporters afterward and was vague about what may have caused the driver to plow through the nine cyclists on the two-lane road. The prosecutor said preliminary crime lab results have been received, but he declined to say what the findings were.
The cyclists were members of a unofficial group, dubbed the Chain Gang, that made regular rides every Tuesday evening. The cyclists, who ranged in age from 40 to 74, were riding up a hill on the two-lane road just after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when Pickett's pickup plowed into them from behind, according to authorities.
The five cyclists who were killed were identified as Debra A. Bradley, 53, of Augusta; Melissa A. Fevig-Hughes, 42, of Augusta; Fred Anton (Tony) Nelson, 73, of Kalamazoo; Lorenz J. (Larry) Paulik, 74, of Kalamazoo, and Suzanne J. Sippel, 56, of Augusta. The injured cyclists are Paul D. Gobble, 47, of Richland; Sheila D. Jeske, 53, of Richland; Jennifer L. Johnson, 40, of Kalamazoo, and Paul L. Runnels, 65, of Richland.
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