A 41-year-old man is facing three criminal charges after Michigan State Police say he drove straight at a trooper's patrol vehicle on the wrong side of the road near Houghton Lake, forcing multiple drivers off the pavement before troopers finally stopped him. Kyle Roginson was arraigned this past Friday in Roscommon County's 82nd District Court, with a preliminary court appearance scheduled for Wednesday.
The near-miss happened around 6:45 p.m. last Tuesday, when Roginson allegedly drove north in the southbound lane of Harrison Road in Roscommon Township, heading head-on toward an oncoming patrol vehicle from the MSP Houghton Lake Post, according to UpNorthLive. Troopers had been responding to a report of a reckless driver near U.S. Highway 127 and Snowbowl Road when they spotted the car barreling toward them on Harrison Road, according to CBS Detroit. The driver of the law enforcement vehicle avoided a crash only by speeding up and steering around Roginson's car, the outlet reports.
State police say three separate vehicles had to pull over to avoid being struck as Roginson's car continued down the wrong side of the road. Before troopers caught up with him, the motorist also allegedly struck a kayak being hauled by another vehicle and kept driving without reporting the collision, per CBS Detroit's account. Troopers eventually stopped the vehicle at the intersection of South Harrison Road and West Houghton Lake Drive, where Roginson was taken into custody.
No Injuries, But a Heavy Bond
Michigan State Police confirmed that no injuries were reported in the incident, despite the vehicle nearly colliding with troopers and clipping the hauled kayak earlier that evening, the same UpNorthLive report notes. An 82nd District Court judge nonetheless ordered Roginson held on a $100,000 cash or surety bond, or 10 percent of that amount, signaling how seriously the court weighed the danger posed by the alleged wrong-way run.
State police formally charged Roginson with Operating While Intoxicated Second Offense Notice, indicating he has a prior impaired-driving conviction on his record, according to FOX 2 Detroit. He also faces one count of reckless driving and one count of failure to stop at the scene of an accident, stemming from the alleged kayak collision, CBS Detroit reports. Michigan State Police posted video of the encounter showing the car nearly crashing into the trooper's vehicle, though it remains unclear from available reporting what Roginson's blood-alcohol concentration was at the time of his arrest or whether the owner of the hauled kayak has filed any additional property-damage claims.
What Michigan Law Says About Repeat OWI Charges
Under Michigan Compiled Laws § 257.625, an Operating While Intoxicated second offense within seven years is a misdemeanor carrying up to one year in jail, fines between $200 and $1,000, mandatory community service, and a minimum one-year driver's license revocation, according to legal guidance published by Zogliolaw. Separately, the reckless driving statute, MCL § 257.626, requires prosecutors to prove a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property, and carries up to 93 days in jail, fines up to $500, a mandatory 90-day license suspension, and six points on a driving record, per Michigan-Drunk-Driving.com. The failure-to-stop charge falls under MCL § 257.618, which makes leaving the scene of a property-damage accident a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $100, according to State Bar of Michigan records.
A Small Dip in Drunk-Driving Deaths Statewide
The case lands amid broader state data showing alcohol-involved traffic fatalities in Michigan dropped 14 percent, from 307 deaths in 2024 to 264 in 2025, according to figures released by the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center earlier this month. Total traffic crashes across the state still rose slightly, up 0.5 percent to 290,221 incidents in 2025, even as overall roadway fatalities fell 3 percent to 1,065, the agency reported. Roscommon County has seen its share of MSP Houghton Lake Post cases make headlines recently, including a huge I-75 drug bust earlier this year that also ended in a booking at the Roscommon County Jail.
Roginson's case also echoes a wider pattern of wrong-way and impaired-driving prosecutions across Michigan. Earlier this year, a Detroit driver was sentenced to 3 to 15 years in prison after a wrong-way OWI crash on I-75 killed a Hazel Park man, a case Hoodline previously covered. With Roginson's preliminary hearing set for Wednesday, it remains to be seen how prosecutors will pursue the combined OWI, reckless driving, and failure-to-stop charges against him.
