A 31-year-old Lapeer father is facing a slate of felony charges after a Thanksgiving Day head-on crash in Macomb County that killed a 5-year-old girl and left three others badly injured. Prosecutors say he was behind the wheel of a southbound vehicle that crossed the center line on Van Dyke Avenue in Bruce Township on Nov. 27, 2025, slamming into a northbound car. Court filings also allege his two young children in the vehicle were not properly secured at the time of the collision.
What investigators say
Michigan State Police told FOX 2 the crash happened around 5:30 p.m. near Ebeling Road, when a southbound vehicle veered into oncoming traffic and hit another car head-on. Troopers said alcohol was suspected, and that the children in the defendant’s vehicle were not properly restrained. Evidence from the scene, along with lab results, was collected and later turned over to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
Charges and court schedule
Prosecutors in Mount Clemens have charged 31-year-old Austin Thorpe of Lapeer with operating while intoxicated causing death, two counts of OWI causing serious injury, two counts of third-degree child abuse, moving-violation counts tied to death and serious impairment, and commission of a felony with a motor vehicle, as reported by ClickOnDetroit. Thorpe was arraigned yesterday as a habitual offender, and a judge set his bond at $500,000. A charging order also bars him from driving if he is released from custody. A probable cause conference is scheduled for June 16 in the district court.
What the charges carry
Under Michigan law, a conviction for operating while intoxicated causing death can bring up to 15 years in prison and fines between $2,500 and $10,000, according to the Michigan Legislature. OWI causing serious injury is also a felony and carries its own significant penalties. Sentencing can ratchet up quickly when prior convictions are involved, and a habitual offender designation can increase the potential prison time and overall exposure a defendant faces.
Local context
Macomb County prosecutors have been busy with impaired-driving cases this year. In one high-profile April crash in Roseville, a defendant was arraigned on an OWI causing death charge, part of a broader push by the prosecutor’s office to aggressively pursue alcohol-related roadway fatalities, according to a Macomb County press release. Cases like these typically start in district court with preliminary hearings, then move to circuit court if prosecutors secure a bind-over for trial, so families often face a long legal road after a fatal crash.
Thorpe, like any defendant, is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court. Court records and reporting indicate he remains held on the $500,000 bond and is under a no-driving order if released, and the June 16 probable cause conference is the next public step in the case, according to ClickOnDetroit.
