Man Killed With Own Pickup After Trying to Help: Police

The family of Cliffard Van Haywald, 76, is raising money on GoFundMe to pay costs associated with his unexpected death. (Photo via GoFundMe)

___________________

Cliffard Van Haywald performed his last act of kindness Sunday when he was run over and killed by his own truck.

The 76-year-old Waterford man – whose granddaughter describes him with phrases like “the glue to the family” and “an old-school man” who believed in helping others – was doing what he always did when the kind gesture became his last.

He had stopped at a fast-food restaurant to pick up breakfast, something he does every Sunday morning, when Ruth Pozdol, 38, of Walled Lake allegedly approached him and asked if she could use his cell phone, The Oakland Press and the Detroit Free Press report.

Waterford police Lt. Todd Hasselbach said a struggle ensued outside the Burger King restaurant on M-59 near North Oakland Boulevard, Pozdol snatched his keys, jumped into his red 2001 Chevrolet Silverado pickup and then allegedly ran over him, killing him.

The Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office said Van Haywald died of blunt force trauma to the chest and back after he was crushed by the vehicle.

Van Haywald “was helping the wrong person,” said his granddaughter, Amber Davis, 23, who lives next door to him in Waterford.

He was a regular at the Burger King, where he ordered French Toast Sticks and small soda pop for breakfast every Sunday morning. “Everybody there loved him,” Davis said. “They knew him by name.”

They also knew him as a kind, generous soul.

“If you asked anything of him, he would do whatever he could in his power to help you,” Davis said, calling her grandfather “the glue to the family.”

A retired General Motors employee, he liked anything with a motor, Davis said.

Her grandparents’ home was a popular stop among neighborhood children when she was growing up.

“When I was growing up, I remember all the neighborhood kids would bring their bikes or toys over to his house and he would fix them, and my grandma would make us a snack after school,” she said.

Pozdol was taken into custody and was expected to be arraigned on charges Tuesday. Van Haywald’s pickup was found in Detroit, where it had been burned.

Pozol reportedly walked away from a nearby drug treatment center near the Burger King restaurant.

Funeral arrangements are pending. A GoFundMe site has been established to help the family pay funeral expenses.

Van Haywald was preceded in death by his wife of 45 years, Lee.

Survivors include four children – Beth, Laura, Dana and Brian; four grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and siblings Denny and Helen.