A 99-year-old man who investigators say killed two teenagers this week by driving his RV on the wrong side of a Florida highway—reportedly with its headlights off-- was cleared to drive in Michigan last month after he passed vision, paper and road tests and got the approval of two medical professionals, a state spokesman said Friday.
“The inside interior lights were not working at the time,” Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Raymond Stuhr said in a news conference Thursday, according to the Detroit Free Press. “We believe the headlights were not functional at the time of the crash as well.”
The Michigan Secretary of State’s Office gave more information about a re-examination that Walter Roney passed Jan. 8, four months after someone asked motor vehicle officials to determine if he was still competent to drive.
The Tuesday night crash in Fort Pierce, Florida, killed best friends Santia Feketa, 18, and Britney Poindexter, 17. They were on their way to a skating rink.
Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, said Thursday that Roney, of Dearborn, Michigan, was determined to have an acceptable medical condition at the re-examination. On Friday, he said Roney also had favorable statements from two medical professionals and cleared eye, knowledge and on-the-road tests.
Woodhams would not say who flagged Roney’s ability to drive, citing confidentiality policies. He said referrals typically come from law enforcement, a family member or a medical professional.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Roney and his 75-year-old girlfriend, Carolyn Elizabeth-Evans Bruns of Brighton, Michigan, were driving Tuesday from Melbourne on Florida’s Atlantic coast, where property records show Roney owns a condo. They were headed to Port Charlotte on the state’s Gulf Coast to have interior electrical issues with their RV repaired. They exited Interstate 95 in Fort Pierce shortly before 7 p.m., with Roney taking over the driving from Bruns.
Bruns told investigators the headlights had been working when she was driving.
Feketa was driving east in her 2013 Chevrolet Silverado with Poindexter in the passenger seat when Roney’s RV smashed into them.
Roney and Bruns remained hospitalized in critical condition on Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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