Docs: Man admitted ‘I caused a drunk driving’ in crash that killed teens

The video in the player above aired on June 22. STANTON, Mich. (WOOD) — A man who has been charged with driving drunk in a crash that killed two teens near Six Lakes was found afterward in a ditch with a bottle of whiskey and admitted to causing the crash, according to a probable cause document obtained by News 8. The crash happened Thursday night on M-46 near Derby Road in Belvidere Township around 11:10 p.m. Michigan State Police said Nowicki rear-ended a Chevrolet Cruze with two 17-year-old inside. Their car spun into the eastbound lanes of M-46, where it was hit by a pickup truck and T-boned by an SUV. Both teens died, troopers said. A family member told News 8 the teens were Latrese Mcferrin and Mark Pettengill, who were dating and shared a child together. After the crash, an MSP trooper found driver Brian Nowicki, 49, “in the ditch and he had a bottle of Jim Beam Whiskey in his waistband,” according to a probable cause document. When the trooper tried to take the alcohol away, Nowicki pushed the officer away and stumbled back into the ditch after standing up, the trooper remembered. “Mr. Nowicki continually pushed against me and attempted to resist arrest by hiding his arms from me and pushing against me with his other arm. After getting one handcuff on, Mr. Nowicki rolled over and continued to resist arrest until I could get the second handcuff on," the trooper said, noting slurred speech, glassy bloodshot eyes and a strong odor of alcohol. While conducting field sobriety tests, Nowicki admitted he had been driving drunk. “'Why are we going through this process? I’m already f----- up for drunk driving,'” Nowicki said, according to the trooper. “I then asked Brian what he meant, and he again said quote, ‘Nobody here is stupid. We know what the hell happened. Why are you putting me through all these tests?’” When the trooper asked Nowicki to tell him what happened, he reportedly said, “I’m f----- up and I caused a drunk driving.” He then told the trooper what he remembered happening. “I sped up behind some people who were going slower than I was and I hit them from behind and I caused an accident,” Nowicki said, according to the trooper. After being informed that two people had died in the crash, Nowicki refused to continue the sobriety tests and did not undergo a breath test since he had a cut on his mouth, the trooper recalled. As he was taking Nowicki into custody after the tests, the trooper said Nowicki doubled down on his confession. “He made several excited utterances stating quote, ‘But I admitted. I’m telling you and I’m sitting here that I’m admitting that I’m at wrong.’ Brian also stated quote, ‘You didn’t listen,’ and I told Brian that I did listen and he told me that he had caused the accident, and Brian replied quote, ‘I did,’” the trooper said. Nowicki also resisted a chemical test and a blood test, the document says. When asked, the trooper said he tried to barter to get his bottle of whiskey back. “When I asked him to consent to a blood test, he said quote, ‘Are you stupid? I told you yes if you give me my alcohol.’ I then told Brian that he would not be getting his alcohol back and he stated quote, ‘Then the answer is no,’” the document says. MSP got a search warrant for Nowicki to get a blood test, which he underwent just after midnight. The next evening, the trooper went to the Montcalm County Jail to question Nowicki. According to the trooper, Nowicki admitted that he had taken his mother’s car to a casino in Mount Pleasant, where he drank about a fifth of whiskey before heading home. He told the trooper he was most likely driving over 80 mph but he wasn’t sure how fast he was going when he tried to pass a vehicle — the teens’ Chevrolet Cruze — going westbound on M-46 that was going slower than he was. Nowicki told the trooper that when he got into the other lane, he noticed vehicles behind him were coming up quickly and immediately cut back over into the lane he was initially in. That’s when he hit the back of the teens’ car, causing the crash, the document says. Nowicki was charged Monday with two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, two counts of operating while license suspended or revoked causing death related to a crash that killed two teens, three counts of felony assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer, one count of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury and two counts of operating while license suspended or revoked causing serious injury. He is being held on a $2 million bond. During Monday’s hearing, the prosecutor called Nowicki a “drunk driving recidivist” and rattled off a long list of his past offenses, many of which involved driving while under the influence of alcohol, including in other states. His license was suspended or revoked at the time of the crash, the prosecutor said, and he had an active warrant in the state of Missouri related to a drunken driving offense. Nowicki is scheduled to be back in court July 1. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of all charges. — News 8's Katherine Connolly contributed to this report.