MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office is charging a 15-year-old driver and her father in the crash that killed an 84-year-old man.
On June 21, Earl Roomsburg was hit and killed in a parking lot off S. Bolen Road near Apple Avenue in Wolf Lake, east of Muskegon.
“He was on his way to ice cream store, which he did as a ritual every night, to get him and my mom some ice cream,” the victim’s daughter Angela Driscoll told 24 Hour News 8 Wednesday. “My mother is the one who’s taking it really hard. She says, ‘I shouldn’t have sent him.'”
The prosecutor’s office said the 15-year-old who was behind the wheel was unlicensed and did not have a learner’s permit. The teen’s father was in the passenger’s seat at the time.
Both are now facing felony charges: the 15-year-old is accused of operating a vehicle without a license causing death and her father Steven Arnouts, 50, of allowing her to drive a vehicle causing death.
Arnouts is set to be arraigned on July 24. Authorities say that while jail time is listed as possible penalty, it is unlikely, though the decision will ultimately be up to the judge.
Information about the 15-year-old driver’s court proceedings were not available to the public.
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