Jeremy Lee Tonn thought Wisconsin was far enough away. Turns out it wasn’t. The 42-year-old Caseville resident got dragged back to Michigan last month to face six felony charges for a summer crash that put two people in the hospital.
Here’s what went down. Back on June 25th, cops say Tonn was driving a Dodge Charger in Chandler Township when he smashed into a three-wheeled Harley. The motorcycle went off the road and both riders got seriously hurt. Instead of stopping to help or calling 911, Tonn allegedly just drove off.
That’s already bad enough. But police say he was drunk when it happened and his license was suspended. So now you’ve got drunk driving, suspended license, serious injuries, and leaving the scene. That’s how you rack up six felonies real quick.
Tonn didn’t stick around Michigan to face the music. He bolted to Wisconsin and set up in Ashland County. Probably figured he could lay low up there and nobody would come looking. Wrong call.
Investigators put together a solid case using witness statements, stuff they found at the crash scene, and a banged-up Dodge Charger that matched what people described. They also got medical records showing Tonn had been drinking. All that evidence led them straight to Wisconsin.
Getting someone extradited isn’t as simple as driving up there and grabbing them. You need both governors to sign off on it. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers both had to approve bringing Tonn back. That’s a lot of paperwork and coordination between state police agencies. Legal cases involving multiple jurisdictions can take months to sort out, but they got it done.
Tonn came back to Michigan on December 22nd. Merry Christmas to him, I guess. He showed up in Huron County court and the judge set his bond at $100,000 cash. Not 10% down or anything – straight cash. That’s a serious bond amount. Judge wanted to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere this time.
Tonn asked if he could stay with family in Pinconning while waiting for trial. That’s about an hour south of where the crash happened. Don’t know if the judge approved that request yet. Might be tough to convince a court you’ll stick around when you already ran once.
He had a probable cause hearing Thursday. That’s where prosecutors show they’ve got enough evidence to move forward with charges. Looks like they cleared that hurdle because there’s a preliminary examination scheduled for January 16th at 9am.
The prelim is where things get real. Prosecutors will lay out their case and Tonn’s lawyer will try to poke holes in it. Judge decides if there’s enough to send it to trial. Given the evidence they already collected – witnesses, crash scene analysis, the damaged car, medical records – I’d bet money this goes to trial.
Two counts of causing serious injury while driving drunk. Two counts of driving on a suspended license and causing serious injury. Two counts of leaving an injury crash scene. Each one of those is a felony. Stack them all together and Tonn’s looking at serious prison time if convicted.
The two people on that Harley got seriously hurt back in June. Seven months later and Tonn’s just now having his first real court dates. Accidents and injuries affect entire communities, not just the people directly involved. Those motorcyclists probably had months of recovery ahead of them while this guy was hiding out in Wisconsin.
What makes hit-and-runs so much worse than regular crashes is the leaving part. Accidents happen. People make mistakes. But when you hit someone and just drive away without checking if they’re alive? That’s a different level of wrong. And if you were drunk with a suspended license? Even worse.
January 16th at 9am. That’s when the preliminary examination happens. We’ll see how strong the prosecutor’s case really is. Based on what they’ve already collected, Tonn’s in deep trouble. Running to Wisconsin didn’t help. Coming back in cuffs probably didn’t feel great either.
$100,000 bond sitting on his head right now. Six felonies waiting for him. Not a good situation to be in.
