After guilty verdict, Kalamazoo bike community still dealing with 'horrible thing'

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (BRAIN) — Bike riders do things a bit differently now in this city of 75,000, where a driver plowed his truck into a group road ride nearly two years ago, killing five cyclists and injuring four others. On Tuesday a jury convicted the driver, 52-year-old Charles Pickett Jr., of five counts of second degree murder and other charges.

Since the crash, Steve Johnson and his wife Jennifer — one of the injured survivors — rarely ride together. The couple have young children and "we want to be sure one of us comes home," Steve, a former bike retailer, told BRAIN this week. "It's always in the back of our minds," he said.

"Our business was more like a group hug than anything associated with retail" — Pedal owner Tim Krone

Kalamazoo bike retailer Tim Krone said some of his customers are now avoiding road riding, although he concedes it's hard to say if that's because of the crash or other factors, like a growing fear of distracted drivers.

"I know there are people that are scared. There are people who are afraid to get back out on the road," said Krone, the owner of Pedal, a two-store chain.

"For weeks after (the crash) our business was more like a group hug than anything associated with retail," he recalled. "As time goes on we continue to be a bike shop that services people who survived that horrible thing. It's just a fact in our community now and we all deal with that fact in different ways. But it's always there."

Prosecutors said Pickett had downed a handful of drugs before getting into his truck that day and police received several reports of his erratic driving before the collision with the group ride. Witnesses testified at the trial that he was going about 58 mph at the time of the crash and that he had methamphetamine, amphetamines, hydrocodone and four other drugs in his system. Witnesses also testified that the cyclists rode in single file on the shoulder, wore helmets and some had mirrors and blinking tail lights.

The cyclists who died in the crash were Tony Nelson, 73; Larry Paulik, 74; Melissa Fevig-Hughes, 42; Debra Bradley, 53; and Suzanne Sippel, 56.

Pickett will be sentenced on June 11, four days after the two-year anniversary of the crash.

Many in the cycling community said they were gratified, but not surprised by the verdict.

"From the first responders that evening through to the police and prosecutors, they were doing everything right, knowing that this day would come," said John Olbrot, a local cyclist and vice president of the Kalamazoo Bicycle Club. "I did have confidence all along that he wasn't going to get off lightly," he said.

Olbrot wasn't on the ride that night, but in Kalamazoo's small cycling community, everyone knows everyone, and that night many friends and family members got in touch to make sure he was OK. He said the crash is in his thoughts on many group rides especially if the ride passes the part of town where the crash occurred. 

Olbrot said he's always been a cautious rider, but maybe a bit more so now. "I will be more apt to ride with lights during the day now. And I don't mind falling off back of a group if I don't think it's safe. I'd rather be dropped than keep up and not be safe." He said he has friends who have taken up gravel riding since the crash and wonders if the crash influenced that.

Steve Johnson should have been the ride leader of the long-standing "Chain Gang" group ride that night in 2016, but he couldn't ride because of an injury. Instead Jennifer led the ride while Steve stayed home with their children.

Then he got a call from an acquaintance who had heard about the crash.

"It was just a horror ... I just heard that a group had been hit and there were at least four dead. I knew based on the location that it was our group. For ten minutes I didn't know if Jennifer was dead, and then I got a call from the hospital saying she was alive. It was a horrible ten minutes," he said.

Jennifer had a long list of injuries including a broken femur, hip and vertebrae and a concussion. She's back riding again, nearly as strong as before the crash, her husband said. She and two other survivors of the crash led a group ride Tuesday soon after news hit of Pickett's guilty verdict.

By coincidence, Johnson was closing down his store, Johnson Cycle Works, around the time of the crash. He works construction now and is still heavily involved in the bike community. He said he's seen the community come together in the last two years.

"Quite honestly, it's mostly positively affected the bike community. Various clubs feel much more a part of the same community now ... And it's raised awareness of cyclists being on the road with motorists."

Since the crash, Kalamazoo and some neighboring communities have passed ordinances requiring passing vehicles to give bikes at least 5 feet of clearance, and the Michigan Legislature is currently debating a 5-foot state law.

Olbrot plans to meet with lawmakers this month to push for the law. Krone said he's spoken with his state Senator in favor of the law as well. If Michigan passes the 5-foot law it would be among the most generous in the country. About 30 states, and the District of Columbia, have laws requiring vehicles to give clearance. In most states it's 3 feet, but Pennsylvania requires 4-feet of clearance. South Dakota requires 3 feet for passing vehicles below 35 mph and 6 feet if the vehicle is going faster.  

Kalamazoo cyclists plan a memorial ride on June 7, as they did last year on the anniversary, along the route of the planned Chain Gang ride the night of the crash. This year on the ride they will unveil a memorial on a spot overlooking the crash site.