Man charged in fatal Detroit crash was month from end of probation

Detroit — A 29-year-old man facing three felony charges in a fatal car crash on Detroit's east side Friday morning was just a month from the end of his probation term, Michigan Department of Corrections records show.

Joseph Lucas faces charges of second-degree murder, driving under the influence causing death, and driving with license suspended/revoked/denied causing death.

The fatal crash took place about 4:10 a.m. at East Seven Mile and Chalmers, police said.

Police say a gray BMW, eastbound on Seven Mile, hit a Dodge Challenger that was turning left off Chalmers to westbound Seven Mile.

Friday:Man, 29, arrested in fatal east-side crash

The man driving the Challenger died at the scene. Police had not identified him on Friday.

Medics transported the 29-year-old man driving the BMW to a hospital in police custody. Lucas was charged Saturday, but court records do not immediately show whether his arraignment took place or its outcome.

At the time of his arrest, Lucas was 17 months into an 18-month probation term after pleading guilty to carrying a concealed weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm in Macomb County. He pleaded in November 2018 and was sentenced in April 2019.

Lucas had to report monthly to his probation agent. Monthly drug tests all came back negative, said Holly Kramer, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.

He was cited in August 2019 for driving on a suspended license, Kramer said. But otherwise had no violations.

The prior felony stems from a 2008 Wayne County case. Lucas pleaded guilty to unarmed robbery and was sentenced to two years of probation and was discharged from it after one year, corrections records show.

In 2017, Lucas was charged with first-degree murder and felony firearm related to a homicide at a gas station on Detroit's east side.

2017:Man, 24, killed at east side gas station

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy accused Lucas of driving two other men, Derrick Everson and Kyrell Alonzo, to and from the gas station where Javon Perry, 24, was shot and killed.

Everson pulled out a gun and both he and Alonzo chased Perry as he tried to flee, authorities said.

According to police, Everson fired several shots, striking Perry in the head. Everson was sentenced to 40 to 70 years in prison, along with two years for a felony firearm charge. 

In October 2017, after a previous jury trial ended in a hung jury, a Wayne County jury found Alonzo guilty of second-degree murder as a habitual offender, as well as felony firearm, and he was sentenced to 38 to 60 years. The felony firearm sentence is two years minus 291 days of time served. The jury found Alonzo not-guilty of the first-degree murder charge.

Both charges against Lucas were dismissed at court hearings. That April, the felony firearm charge was dismissed, and that October that murder charge was dismissed, court records show.

The department of corrections didn't immediately respond to a request for information.