Victims identified in 'tragic' fatal crash during Make-A-Wish Michigan bicycle tour

Lansing State Journal

The day Bloomfield Hills resident Michael Salhaney died, he did a Facebook Live video telling his viewers it was going to be a "tough day in the saddle" bicycling 112 miles for a Make-A-Wish fundraising event.

But his bike ride was cut short.

The Ionia County Sheriff's office sits Friday, April 22, 2022, located at 133 E. Adams Street in Ionia.

He and four other bicyclists were hit by an SUV driven by Ionia resident Mandy Marie Benn, 42.

Salhaney, 57, and Ann Arbor resident Edward Erickson, 48, died.

Of the other three victims, all men from the east side of the state, one is in serious but stable condition and expected to recover. The other two victims were treated and released from the hospital. The Ionia County Sheriff's Office has not released their names.

According to authorities, Benn was arraigned and charged with two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, operating a vehicle while under the influence of a controlled substance, and a second offense notice of operating while intoxicated. She is being held on a $1 million cash bond at Ionia County Jail.

Fundraising event turned 'vehicular mass-casualty incident'

Ionia County Central Dispatch received a 911 call at 11:15 a.m. Saturday about a car running into a group of bicyclists in the 3000 block of Stage Road in Ronald Township, according to an Ionia County Sheriff’s Office press release published Saturday.

Benn was northbound on Stage Road behind a UPS truck that began slowing down to stop. Benn moved into the southbound lane to go around the truck and into the path of the bicyclists. It does not appear Benn saw the oncoming bicyclists prior to impact, according to an Ionia County Sheriff's Office press release published Monday.

When responders arrived on scene, they immediately discovered a “vehicular mass-casualty incident,” the release states.

About the victims

The cyclists were participating in the 35th Make-A-Wish Michigan Wish-A-Mile Bicycle Tour, a three-day endurance ride covering most of Michigan, according to the release.

Both Salhaney and Erickson were on the same team and Salhaney was the team captain.

This was Erickson's ninth year riding for the event and he was able to meet his goal of raising $3,500, according to his participant website page.

"I hope we are able to ride together in 2022‼️" he wrote.

He wrote that he committed to raising money for Make-A-Wish Michigan to help grant wishes to Michigan children with critical illnesses.

"A wish shifts the focus from hospital stays, treatments and surgeries," he wrote. "It opens up a world of possibilities — where the exciting anticipation of a wish-come-true helps wish kids believe in better days ahead.

"A wish replaces fear with confidence, sadness with joy and anxiety with hope. And hope is essential for these courageous children, now more than ever."

Salhaney was a partner at Michigan litigation defense law firm Secrest Wardle and is a former assistant prosecuting attorney at the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, according to his LinkedIn and Facebook accounts.

Fellow attorney Jim Williams, a trial attorney in the Birmingham and Bloomfield areas, knew Salhaney professionally for about 25 years. Despite the two men often representing opposite interests in court, Williams said their interactions were always friendly.

"Anyone who knew him had a friend for life before they knew him. I've always admired him for that," Williams said, his voice breaking, "it's just sad."

In the Facebook Live video Salhaney filmed about two hours before the crash, he told his audience that during the hard trek, you start to question: Do you have what it takes to get to the end of the line?

"But then you look down at your wrist and you see this wristband,” Salhaney said, showing the camera the name "Thomas" on it.

That was the name of the "wish hero" Salhaney was riding in honor of during the bicycle tour. And it's what would give Salhaney the extra motivation to keep going, he said.

He told viewers he would put a donation link on his Facebook page and would try to keep them posted "so that you can see what devastating effect is going to be on me when I get to 112 miles today."

Make-A-Wish, League of Michigan Bicyclists mourn lives lost

Make-A-Wish Michigan's annual Wish-A-Mile Bicycle Tour was started in 1987 by four friends who challenged each other to ride 300 miles from Canton to Mackinac.

After Saturday's crash, the organization canceled the third day of the tour as well as other events associated with fundraising efforts, according to a statement provided by Chief Diversity and Engagement Officer Sherri Collins.

The organization is supporting riders, staff and volunteers with grief counseling and assisting with the investigation, according to the statement.

"Our staff and the entire Make-A-Wish family are heartbroken and offer our deepest sympathy for the riders involved, their loved ones, and all members of the (Wish-A-Mile) community during this difficult time," the nonprofit said.

This incident shares similarities with a fatal 2016 Kalamazoo crash in which a Michigan man under the influence of drugs killed five cyclists and injured four.

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The League of Michigan Bicyclists, a Lansing-based nonprofit, decried the tragedy in a statement released Monday afternoon, calling for increased protections for riders.

"People want to believe that bicyclists can protect themselves by wearing the right protective equipment, using the right lights, or riding in the correct way," John Lindenmayer, executive director of the League of Michigan Bicyclists, said in the release. "None of those were sufficient to protect these riders, and blaming victims is never appropriate."

Twenty-nine cyclists were killed on the road last year in Michigan, according to government statistics.

Though 2021 represents a 24% decrease from the 34 riders killed in 2020, it is still more than the 21 riders killed each year in 2019, 2018 and 2017.

"We mourn these deaths," Matt Penniman, the league's communication and advocacy director said in the release, "and we cannot accept this loss of life as inevitable."

Contact Eve Sampson at esampson@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @eveksampson. Contact Bryce Airgood at 517-267-0448 or bairgood@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @bairgood123.