Detroit man faces 7 felonies in crash that killed son, 9

Detroit — A 35-year-old Detroit man was denied bond and will remain jailed as he faces seven felony charges for a crash Sunday morning that killed his 9-year-old son. 

The fatal crash happened about 3 a.m. at Minock and Kendall. That's on Detroit's west side, north of Schoolcraft and east of Evergreen. 

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office alleges that Kelvin Jerome Simpson II was driving himself, his son, Kelvin III, and two adults from his brother's house to a gas station.

The boy was allegedly not in a seat belt, but sitting on the lap of a back seat passenger.

The prosecutor's office says Simpson was drunk and ignored a yield sign, hitting an SUV. No one was hurt in that crash.

But then his vehicle hit a parked car, and then a tree, before rolling on its side.

The impact threw the boy from the vehicle. He was dead when police arrived.

A 38-year-old man who was in the vehicle "was seriously injured, with several broken bones," said Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Prosecutor Kym Worthy, via email.

Worthy has charged Simpson with seven felonies: second-degree murder; second-degree child abuse; two counts of operating with a suspended or revoked license causing death; operating while intoxicated causing death; operating while intoxicated causing death with prior conviction; and operating with a high blood alcohol content causing injury, with a prior conviction.

Kelvin Simpson Jr. was arraigned Tuesday by 36th District Magistrate Malaika Ramsey-Heath, who denied him bond.

He is due back for a probable cause conference July 28 and a preliminary examination on Aug. 4, both before Judge Kenyetta Stanley-Jones. 

Simpson was on probation supervision with the Michigan Department of Corrections at the time of the crash, records show. 

Holly Kramer, a spokeswoman for the corrections department, said he met last with his probation agent on June 2, and was scheduled to report back on Aug. 7. Simpson was on a five-year probation term that started in May 2018 after his guilty plea in an attempted breaking-and-entering case out of Wayne County. 

In April 2019, the department filed a warrant for a violation of probation against Simpson for assault, breaking and entering, failure to pay court costs and fees, failure to get substance abuse treatment, and failure to get a job, Kramer said. But that May the court decided to continue his probation.

In the year-plus since, he had gotten a job and passed his drug tests, Kramer said.

jdickson@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @downi75