Police: Maserati driver was laughing after crash that killed mom of 3
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The driver of a Maserati was going an estimated 144 m.p.h. in January when the Italian luxury car slammed into the rear of another vehicle in Michigan, killing a 53-year-old mother of three, according to newly released police reports.
Gregory Allen Belkin got out of his burning Maserati and laughed as he ran around the other driver’s car, according to Bloomfield Township (Mich.) Police Officer Scott Schuknecht, the first officer on the scene.
"Gregory said he was the driver of the Maserati several times," Schuknecht wrote in his report. "Gregory said he looked down and looked up while driving, and the vehicle he hit was stopped on the road. I reminded him the other driver was seriously injured and laughing was not appropriate."
Rhonda T. Williams, 53, who was lifeless in her smashed 2009 Subaru Legacy, was transported to St. Joseph Hospital where she was pronounced dead. She was driving from work to her home in Oakland Township when the crash occurred shortly after 9 p.m.
Belkin, 43, the driver of the 2014 Maserati Ghibli, was arraigned three days after the crash on felony charges of second-degree murder and operating under the influence of alcohol — causing death. He pleaded not guilty and was denied bond.
He’s currently undergoing a competency evaluation to determine if he’s mentally fit to stand trial.
A broken day
In extensive interviews with friends, acquaintances and eyewitnesses, Bloomfield Township police officers were able to map out Belkin’s activities leading up to the moments right before the crash.
From the information they gathered, investigators believe Belkin possibly stopped at two places for drinks on the night of the crash. He drove to his ex-girlfriend’s house to present her with an engagement ring but was turned down, investigators say. He left the woman’s house and quickly made a call to her while driving away, investigators say.
They believe Belkin dropped his cellphone right before the crash occurred. Police say excessive speeds and alcohol were factors in the crash.
According to the data downloaded from the Maserati’s event data recorder, Belkin was traveling at approximately 144 mph seconds before impact. Crash investigators at the scene calculated the Subaru’s speed at approximately 54 mph.
Rhonda T. Williams, 53, the driver of the 2009 Subaru Legacy, was transported to St. Joseph Hospital and pronounced dead. The mother of three was driving from work to her home in Oakland Township when the crash occurred.
Belkin, 43, the driver of the 2014 Ghibli Maserati, was arraigned three days after the crash on felony charges of second-degree murder and operating under the influence of alcohol — causing death. He pleaded not guilty and was denied bond.
He’s currently undergoing a competency evaluation to determine if he’s mentally fit to stand trial.
Tanning salon
On Jan. 25, Bloomfield Township officers Steve Sherwood and Jason Murphy met with Belkin’s roommate, Allen Kakoz, at his job in Birmingham. Kakoz stated he went to a tanning salon with Belkin at about 1 p.m. After returning home, Belkin reportedly turned around right away and left to tan a second time at a different place. Belkin then returned home at about 4 p.m.
According to police reports, Kakoz said he “passed out” in his bedroom at around 5:30 p.m. When he awoke a few hours later, he discovered that Belkin had left the house. Kakoz told police Belkin did not return home that night.
Kakoz also told investigators he received a call the next morning from Madison Aleck, an employee at the Parkway Grill who saw a story on the news about a 43-year-old man in a Maserati being involved in a fatal car crash.
Police talked with Aleck later that afternoon. The Parkway Grill is located in the Marriott Hotel in Pontiac, and Aleck told police that Belkin sat at the restaurant bar and ordered two glasses of wine between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.
According to Aleck, Belkin drank one glass of wine but only half of the second before taking a call on his cellphone. He then asked Aleck to have the bartender quickly run the drinks and a bottle of wine on his tab.
‘I’m going 100 …’
Belkin’s ex-girlfriend, Kimberly Glazer, met with Murphy and Sherwood at the Bloomfield Township Police Department on Jan. 25. According to police reports, Glazer told the two officers she had recently ended her relationship with Belkin, but that he was not taking it well.
On the day of the crash, Glazer said Belkin had been texting her nonstop in an effort to get her back. One text indicates he drove by her house earlier in the day.
Glazer said Belkin called her from the Marriott and insisted on coming over. He arrived at her house at about 8:15 p.m., and presented her with an engagement ring. She told him no and asked him to leave. It was shortly before 9 p.m. when Belkin got back into his Maserati.
She told police that she kept her distance from Belkin during the conversation, and couldn’t tell if he had been drinking.
Glazer’s cellphone records indicate she received a call from Belkin at 9:02 p.m. The crash itself was first reported to dispatch at 9:04 p.m. She told police that at the end of the phone call, Belkin began reading off odometer speeds.
“We’ll see how the night goes,” Belkin reportedly told Glazer. “I’m going 100, I’m going 120. I’m going 150 …”
At that point, the call disconnected.
The Maserati and Subaru were traveling in the same direction on eastbound Square Lake Road. Numerous witnesses on the road reported seeing the Maserati driving at a high rate of speed.
One witness told police he heard the collision and then saw the cars spin. Another driver said the Maserati passed him on the right and was traveling at least 80 mph. A third witness said he heard a booming sound and saw police lights.
Schuknecht, the first officer on the scene, detected alcohol on Belkin and asked him to perform several field sobriety tests. After Belkin failed each of the tests, he was handcuffed and arrested for drunken driving, police said.
The two were in an ambulance, heading to St. Joseph’s hospital so that Belkin could be examined, when Schuknecht updated him on the crash.
“I informed Gregory the other driver died due to the accident,” Schuknecht wrote in his report. “Gregory began to cry but would later ask me about the condition of his Maserati and the location of his cellphone.”
Belkin interview
On Jan. 26, one day prior to his arraignment, Belkin agreed to talk to investigators without an attorney present. He signed a Miranda Rights form and the conversation was recorded.
The interview was held at the Bloomfield Township Police Station. Belkin said on the morning of the crash, he went to a tanning salon in Waterford with his roommate. He didn’t like the tanning salon, so he decided to try another one at Square Lake and Telegraph.
Belkin reportedly said his memory of that day was “foggy.” He reportedly wasn’t sure how much he had to drink that day, but was surprised at how high his PBT results were. He remembered going to Glazer’s house and presenting her with the engagement ring.
He told investigators the crash occurred when he dropped his cellphone in the car and leaned over to pick it up. He did not think he was speeding at the time of the crash, police said.
Asked how fast he was driving, Belkin reportedly said sometimes he’ll go 80 mph but will quickly slow down. As far as his conversation with Glazer, Belkin reportedly said he told her that he was going over 100 mph “to get a rise out of her.” When investigators told him that he was likely traveling over 100 mph, he had no response.
According to the police reports, Belkin then raised concerns over how high his bond was going to be, and how he would get home because of his damaged Maserati.
One of the detectives asked Belkin if he wanted to write a letter to the family of Rhonda Williams. Belkin stated he wanted to and proceeded to write the letter. He then was placed back in his cell to await arraignment.
‘I am screwed’
At the arraignment before 48th District Court Judge Diane D’Agostini, Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Ken Frazee said Belkin is a 17-year employee of the U.S. Coast Guard, and that his main task is painting buoys.
Belkin was a renting a house in Bloomfield Hills since April 2016, and Frazee noted that some of the neighbors around Belkin have complained about him speeding through the neighborhood. The assistant prosecutor noted Belkin actually got into an argument with two of his neighbors over speeding on the night before the accident.
Frazee told the court that Belkin was previously arrested for drunken driving in Virginia. He also said the Coast Guard is investigating an incident in which Belkin appeared to be intoxicated when he showed up for work in December 2016.
“This is a defendant who displayed a depraved indifference to the life and safety of all the people on the road that day,” Frazee told the court. “He drank an excessive amount of alcohol … this is someone who is a danger to the public.”
In his report, Murphy said Belkin walked out from the arraignment and said to the escorting officers, “I am screwed.”
Belkin's attorney, Deanna Kelley, did not return phone calls about the case.
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