CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — A Grand Rapids native killed by a hit and run driver in 2021 was struck by two additional vehicles, and those drivers failed to stop too, according to the Kent County Sheriff's Office.
“Somebody had to have known that they hit something,” said Michelle Emaus in an interview via Zoom from her home in Interlochen. “My brother was six foot one and just very soundly built. He was very muscular.”
Michelle is seeking the community’s help to solve the four-year-old hit-and-run that stole her only sibling.
She said she has no ill will toward the driver, she just wants to understand what happened.
“Did he see it coming?” wondered Michelle. “Was he aware of what was happening? This was my little brother, uncle to my three girls… There are no answers to so many questions, I can’t just let it go.”
Michael Emaus, 50, was run over just before midnight on July 1, 2021, as he rode a one-wheel – which resembles an electric skateboard — on Cascade Road north of 36th Street in Forest Hills.
Michael graduated from East Kentwood High School, became a commercial pilot, and settled in Waterford, Michigan.
But the night he died, he was back in the Grand Rapids area visiting friends.
“To the best of our knowledge,” said Kent County Undersheriff Bryan Muir, “Michael had left a party, traveled to a nearby store and was traveling back to the residence when (he was struck and killed).”
Muir said no one witnessed the initial hit and run, and there was no evidence at the scene to suggest what kind of vehicle struck Michael.
A person who came upon the body in the road called 911.
“While the caller was there,” relayed the undersheriff, “Michael was run over by two additional vehicles that did not stop at the scene either.”
Muir said deputies do not know exactly where on the roadway Michael was riding when he was hit.
“The victim was wearing dark clothing,” reported Muir, “and there was limited lighting on the one wheel that he was operating and that would have made it difficult for (drivers) to see (him.)”
There’s no way to know, said Muir, if the driver would face criminal charges.
“That’s a very difficult question to answer,” Muir responded. “Just because somebody’s in the roadway doesn’t mean you don’t have to use due care and caution or stop for something in the roadway if you’re able to do so. The vehicle operator also could have been suspended, revoked, under the influence.”
Muir declined to share the victim’s blood alcohol level.
Michelle said her understanding was that Michael had had “a beer or two” prior to the hit and run.
She described her brother as adventurous, free-spirited and kind-hearted, noting that Michael would encounter people living on the street and take them out to dinner to ensure they ate.
When deputies arrived at the home where the party was, they asked why no one was out looking for Michael.
“They said, ‘You’d have to know Mike. We figured he ran into a pretty girl, ran into someone he knew, or ran into someone homeless on the corner who needed a meal. He would have taken them out to dinner.'”
Michelle said she's always been tenacious and her brother would expect her to continue seeking justice.
“His life was a huge adventure, and he lived it to the fullest,” reflected Michelle. “That kind of brings me a little peace.
In addition to his job as a commercial pilot, Michael collected motorcycles and rode BMX and motocross.
Michelle wonders if the one-wheel played any role in the accident; perhaps its battery died suddenly and propelled Michael’s body into the roadway.
She said her brother had only recently purchased the one-wheeled electric skateboard and was testing how far it could go on a single battery charge at the time of the accident.
If you know anything about the hit and run that killed Michael Emaus, Michelle hopes you will call the Kent County Sheriff's Office at 616.632.6125 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345.
"I would like to put some of the pieces of the puzzle together, and just know how it is that this was the ending of him," said Michelle.
