Woman who killed Pentwater construction worker appears in court.

Charlene Myers and her attorney, Mark Quinn. Photo used by permission, 7&4 News.

Woman who killed Pentwater construction worker appears in court.

#ManisteeNews.

MANISTEE — Charlene Myers, 67, of Bear Lake, the woman accused of killing a Pentwater construction worker and injuring a construction worker from Ludington, appeared in Manistee County’s 85th District Court Wednesday.

In September, 2018, Myers was driving on US 31 in the Village of Bear Lake when she allegedly entered into a construction zone and struck two workers with her 2013 Ford Taurus. Andre Alvesteffer, 20, of Pentwater was pronounced dead at the scene. Damon Williams, 23, of Ludington was seriously injured. Both Alvesteffer and Williamson were graduates of Mason County Central High School.

Myers is being charged with two misdemeanors – moving violation causing death and moving violation causing serious impairment of a body function. The charges are punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a $2,000 fine. The charges are a contradiction to the state’s Andy’s Law (2008 PA 296) which imposes fines for injuring or killing anyone in a work zone as high as $7,500 or imprisonment for as long as 15 years.

According to the original press release from Manistee County Sheriff’s Office, speed was a factor in the crash. MCP’s news partner upnorthlive.com (7&4 News) reported that police reports show that Myers told a witness at the scene that she “blacked out.”

In June, Myers was scheduled to appear in court but did not show up. During Wednesday’s hearing, Myers’s attorney Mark Quinn requested the matter be set for a plea and sentencing in about 30 days. “That will allow us time to continue discussions between the prosecution and myself and also to obtain the documentation that will be helpful to the court and I suspect helpful to the family of those involved as well,” Quinn said to the judge.

“Those orange signs on the road, they’re for the workers to make sure they can come home at night,” Helen Alvesteffer, mother of Andre Alvesteffer, told 7&4 News. “And if they don’t penalize the people now what is that saying to everybody on the roads and what’s that saying to all the construction workers on the roads? We want her license taken away forever and either they take it or she surrenders it would be some sign of remorse from her.”

“We gave her the benefit of the doubt, in the beginning, we got the police report, we saw all of these horrible details in there, she did know,” said Alvesteffer. “She had passed out on other occasions.”

Myers is scheduled to be sentenced on August 21.