Background: A section of the 3000 block of Cyrus Creek Road in Cabell County, West Virginia (Google Maps). Inset left: Michael Hager (West Virginia Division of Corrections & Rehabilitation). Inset right: Abel Sims (GoFundMe).
A grandfather in West Virginia is accused of driving an off-road vehicle while drunk before it flipped over and his grandson was killed.
Michael Hager, 51, has been charged with DUI causing death, Magistrate Court of Cabell County records reviewed by Law&Crime state.
The victim has been identified as 12-year-old Abel Sims.
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On Wednesday afternoon, Hager and his grandson were on a side-by-side off-road vehicle on the 3000 block of Cyrus Creek Road outside of Barboursville, West Virginia. The area is in the western part of the state.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by regional NBC affiliate WSAZ, Hager was driving the vehicle when he lost control. Authorities responded to the scene and found the vehicle flipped over.
Abel was pronounced dead at the crash site.
Cabell County Sheriff’s Office deputies said Hager smelled like alcohol, was slurring his words and nearly fell backward at one point. He allegedly would not cooperate with the investigators and had to be detained in the back of a police vehicle.
Deputies also reportedly noted that Hager had a “droopy” and “flushed face,” as well as “droopy” eyelids, “glassy eyes,” a “blank stare, and dilated pupils.”
The defendant was arrested and booked into the Western Regional Jail on $50,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 20.
A GoFundMe set up for Abel’s family said “[t]his is something no family should ever have to prepare for.”
“If you knew Abel, you loved Abel,” the fundraiser added. “He was the best big brother. He was the best boy, and none of this feels real, but somehow it is.”
The post Grandfather driving off-road vehicle with his 12-year-old grandson flips it over and kills the child: Cops first appeared on Law & Crime.
