Kent County authorities are saying the driver of a car that collided with another driven by Wayland High School senior Ethan Mutschler July 12 was going as fast as 95 miles per hour.
Colter Brannon Rounds, 20, will appear Tuesday, Oct. 22, in Kent County Circuit Court, for a hearing on what occurred just before the crash that killed Mutschler, a three-year starter on the Wildcat football team. Rounds has been charged with reckless driving causing death.
An investigation of Rounds’ Volvo has indicated the car was speeding at 95 mph on southbound Wilson Avenue seconds before striking Mutschler’s Ford Taurus. Kent County Sheriff’s authorities said Mutschler had stopped at the stop sign on 92nd Street and was proceeding across Wilson Avenue when Rounds’ car crested the nearby hill and crashed into the driver’s side of Mutschler’s car.
Detectives said Rounds initially said he was traveling at 65 or 70 mph when he passed a different car between 84th Street and 92nd. Rounds later said he he reached a speed of 81 mph to pass the car and was coasting when he spotted and braked for Mutschler’s car.
It was data recovered from the Volvo that told a different story. The car’s airbag control module data indicated Rounds was traveling 95.1 mph five seconds before the crash in an area where the speed limit was 55. Data also suggested the Volvo was going 83 mph at the time of impact.
Rounds, who didn’t have any tickets previous to the crash, but he was bound over to Circuit Court to face the charges.
Mutschler was a three-year starter as a lineman on the varsity football team and he had been a top reserve on the basketball team as a junior.