Overview
- Two pedestrians, Dawad Helton, 51, and Erica Smith, 43, were struck and killed near West McNichols Road and Ardmore in northwest Detroit during the early morning hours of June 28 when a vehicle hit them while they were crossing the street.
- Wayne County prosecutors charged 29-year-old Nicholas Alexander Lee-Nathan with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death and two counts of reckless driving causing death.
- Lee-Nathan was arraigned on July 1, denied bond by a magistrate and remanded to jail pending a probable cause conference on July 9 and a preliminary examination on July 16.
- Prosecutors cited a preliminary toxicology projection of about 0.274 blood-alcohol content and an investigator estimate that the vehicle was traveling roughly 73 miles per hour when it struck the victims.
- Reporting shows Lee-Nathan had a prior operating-while-intoxicated conviction late last year with a 60-day jail sentence, a fact that victims' families have cited in criticizing past penalties and enforcement and that may shape public and prosecutorial scrutiny going forward.