Murder Charges Filed Against Driver Accused of Plowing Through Cycling Group: Police [UPDATED]

Updated at 5:02 p.m.

Cooper Township, MI — A Battle Creek man has been charged with five counts of second-degree murder against a 50-year-old Battle Creek man accused of plowing into a cycling group, killing five and injuring four on Tuesday.

Charles E. Pickett, 50, will also be charged with four counts of reckless driving causing serious impairment, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Our Earlier Report

Authorities said late Tuesday they had been looking for the driver of a pickup accused of running over a cycling group, killing five and injuring four north of Kalamazoo, after receiving multiple reports of erratic driving.

The accident occurred about 7 p.m. in Cooper Township, Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas told WZZM-TV.

At least nine people were injured. Initial reports said it was unclear if any of the dead or injured were children, but authorities have since said that no children were injured or killed.

The 50-year-old driver of the pickup is in custody. Police haven’t said whether alcohol or drugs were a factor in the horrific crash that one witness said sent several of the bicycles airborne.

In a statement Wednesday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder called the accident a “senseless tragedy.”

“My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Kalamazoo and particularly the cyclists and their families,” he said.

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Michigan State Police are assisting local authorities with the investigation to determine what happened, Snyder said, adding: “What we already know for certain is that Michiganders as a family are in mourning today as Kalamazoo struggles to understand another senseless tragedy.”

Snyder’s statement echoed remarks made at a Tuesday night news conference by Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting, who said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. I can’t even begin to imagine what they’re going through.”

Police agencies had been alerted the driver was operating his pickup erratically, Getting said, but were not in pursuit when the cycling group was hit.

Both Bronson Methodist Hospital and Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo were treating two patients each, one of them in critical condition.

Witness Markus Eberhard told WOOD the pickup was driving erratically in the opposite direction of the cycling group and it nearly ran over his foot. Before he could warn the cyclists, “I saw a bunch of bikes hit the front of his truck and a couple of them flew,” he said.

Another witness, Arika Kruger, said she didn’t see anyone walk away from the crash.

“I pray for these families, I really do, because this is really tragic,” she told WOOD-TV.