Driver going 100 mph before crash killing state police trooper, testimony shows
Updated Dec 10, 2020;
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IONIA COUNTY, MI – A drunken driver was going 100 mph before she crossed into an oncoming lane, causing a head-on crash that killed a state police trooper, witnesses testified.
Thomasina Shani Jones, 29, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.233 percent, nearly triple the state’s 0.08 percent level at which a motorist is presumed intoxicated, police said.
State police Trooper Caleb Starr, 33, a married father of two, was killed in the July 10 crash.
After hearing testimony from state police and others, Ionia County District Judge Raymond Voet on Thursday, Dec. 10, ordered Jones to stand trial on charges of second-degree murder, a potential life offense, driving while license is suspended causing death, operating with a high blood-alcohol level and operating while intoxicated.