Allegan County authorities have charged Alyssa Kay Stark, 20, formerly of Grand Rapids, most recently living in Mebane, N.C., with operating a motor vehicle under the influence in connection with the March 19 fatal traffic crash in Wayland Township.
Capt. Chris Kuhn of the sheriff’s department reported that Stark was driving southbound on US-131 when she lost control and the vehicle to slide toward the outside ditch next to the highway. The vehicle continued to rotate and slide down the embankment and into a perimeter fence running along the highway. The vehicle then slid into a ditch that runs adjacent to 12th Street and hit the ditch hard enough to cause the vehicle to roll over and end up on its roof on 12th Street.
Kuhn said during the rollover event, Alexis Danielle Brown-Johnson, 15, of Grand Rapids, an unrestrained back seat passenger, was ejected from the vehicle and suffered fatal injuries. Another 18-year-old unrestrained passenger in the rear seat, Bianca Monet Bland, 17 of Grand Rapids, suffered minor injuries and was transported for treatment at Metro Hospital. A 19 year old front seat passenger, Taliyah N. Zziwambazza, from Kentwood, was belted and suffered very minor injuries.
A blood sample was taken from Stark and was sent to the Michigan State Police Lab for toxicology testing. She had been lodged at the Allegan County Correctional Facility awaiting a review of the information by the prosecutor’s office. The driver was officially charged today with one count of operating while intoxicated by drugs causing death and one count of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury.
The sheriff’s office was assisted at the scene by the Gun Lake Tribal Police, Wayland Fire Department, Wayland Area EMS and Plainwell EMS.