Man facing charges for allegedly driving drunk, causing cyclist’s death

EASTPOINTE — A Detroit man is facing charges in connection with an alleged drunken driving incident that resulted in death.

On Tuesday, Aug. 8, Clinton Donzell Laws, 52, of Detroit, allegedly collided with a man riding a battery-assisted bicycle at the intersection of Gratiot Avenue and Stephens Road in Eastpointe. Upon arrival, officers found full and empty alcohol bottles in the suspect’s vehicle, as well as a cooler filled with ice and full bottles, according to a press release from the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.

Laws was found to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, the Prosecutor’s Office said. The victim was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Laws was arraigned Aug. 10 in the 38th District Court in Eastpointe. He is facing charges of operating while intoxicated causing death and driving while license suspended causing death, both 15-year felonies, and driving with an open alcohol container in a vehicle, a 90-day misdemeanor.

Magistrate Mark Makoski set Laws’ bond at $600,000 cash or surety with no 10%. If Laws is released — he remained in the Macomb County Jail as of Aug. 18 — he is not to leave the state or use drugs or alcohol, and he must wear an alcohol/GPS tether and be on home confinement.

Laws was scheduled for a probable cause conference Aug. 22, after press time, and a preliminary exam Aug. 29 in front of 38th District Court Judge Kathleen Galen. His attorney, Daniel Garon, could not be reached for comment.