Maserati Driver In Fatal Crash Bragged Of Driving 150 MPH, Laughed At Scene: Police

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI — In a phone call to a friend, the driver of a Maserati boasted about driving 150 mph moments before he crashed into the rear of another vehicle, killing a 53-year-old mother of three, according to police reports. Gregory Allen Belkin, 43, of Bloomfield Hills, is being held without bail on second-degree murder and enhanced drunken driving charges.

Rhonda Williams, 53, of Oakland Township, was killed in the crash. If convicted of the charges, Belkin could go to prison for life. She was pronounced dead at an area hospital after the Jan. 24 crash on Square Lake Road.

Belkin’s 2014 Maserati caught fire, and he was laughing when police arrived at the scene, Bloomfield Township Police Officer Scott Schuknecht wrote in a police report.

“Gregory said he was the driver of the Maserati several times,” Schuknecht wrote in his report of the high-speed fatality. “Gregory said he looked down and looked up while driving, and the vehicle he hit was stopped on the road. I reminded him the other driver was seriously injured and laughing was not appropriate.”

• See Also: Maserati Driver Charged With Murder In Fatal Accident

Data downloaded from the Italian luxury car showed Belkin was traveling at about 144 mph when he crashed into the back of Williams’ 2009 Subaru Legacy, which crash scene investigators determined was driving at about 54 mph, police said.

Police interviews with Belkins’ friends showed he had a rough day before the night ended in tragedy about 9 p.m. His ex-girlfriend, Kimberly Glazer, had broken up with him days before and turned down his marriage proposal earlier in the evening of Jan. 24, according to a review of police reports by the Birmingham Eccentric.

At 9:02 p.m., Belkins called Glazer and told her how fast he was driving — 100 mph, then 120 mph, then 150 mph — before the call suddenly disconnected, police said, adding the crash may have occurred when Belkins dropped his phone and looked away to retrieve it.

In his police report, Schuknecht wrote that Belkin cried when he was told at the hospital, where both drivers were transported, that Williams had died.

“Gregory began to cry,” the officer wrote, “but would later would ask me about the condition of his Maserati and the location of his cellphone.”

Belkin, a 17-year employee at the U.S. Coast Guard, is currently undergoing a psychological examination to determine if he is competent to stand trial.

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Photo via Bloomfield Township Police