Michels
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
LUDINGTON — A 26-year-old man faces a felony charge of reckless driving causing serious impairment after a female passenger fell out of the pickup truck he was driving in Scottville last fall.
Garrett Allen Michels was charged with the crime, Jan. 28, 2026, and turned himself in to authorities, said Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole.
“She was a passenger in the cab of the truck, and the door opened and she fell out,” said Sheriff Cole. The accident occurred when Michels went around the corner in a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck by the Wesco convenience store in Scottville Sept. 25, 2025 at 10:36 a.m.
The victim, Tina Davis (no age available), was airlifted to Corewell Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids with “life-threatening injuries,” said Cole. Information about her current medical condition was not immediately available.
The deputy who investigated the incident watched the Wesco surveillance video and “observed that the truck was parked facing the building in the angled parking lot,” Sheriff Cole read from the report. “Michels, without backing, rapidly accelerated, turning 180 degrees and he drove westbound on Broadway. Michels did not stop on the sidewalk or attempt to slow or yield before entering the road. At that time, Davis was ejected from the vehicle.”
“When he hooked the hard 180 and turned onto Broadway from the parking lot of Wesco, she got pitched out because of how sharp he made the turn,” said Cole. “When he made the turn, her door flew open and she got pitched out.”
The maximum penalty for the felony charge Michels faces in Mason County’s 79th District Court is five years in prison. He is scheduled for a preliminary exam Feb. 18 at 1:30 p.m. He posted a $250 bond, according to court records.
Michels faces a misdemeanor assault and battery charge in a separate matter in Mason County’s 79th District Court, according to court records, and is scheduled for a plea and sentencing hearing Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 9 a.m.
He has several driving-related misdemeanor convictions in Mason County, including a driving while license suspended conviction in 2023; two operating without a license convictions in 2025 and 2020; and three convictions of improper license in 2022 and 2021. Michels pleaded guilty in all of those cases.
____________________
Please Support Local News and Sports coverage
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
Payment can be made monthly via credit card, bank account, PayPal or Venmo through recurring email invoicing. These payments can be set up for autopay each month.
To sign up, email editor@mediagroup31.com. In the subject line write: Subscription. Please supply your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number (indicate cell phone). We will not share your information with any outside sources. For more than one email address in a household, the cost is $15 per month per email address.
Alternative methods:
- We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
Payment must be made in advance prior to subscription activation.
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2026, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
.png)
