A woman who authorities said escaped to Thailand after striking and killing a Michigan State student is back in Michigan to face charges.
The Detroit News reports Tubtim “Sue” Howson, 57, will be charged today with failure to stop at the scene of an accident causing death in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day
Howson voluntarily agreed to return to Michigan from Thailand in mid-February. Authorities extradited her back to the United States and she has been in jail in San Francisco until being brought to Oakland County in Michigan Wednesday, March 15.
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She said at a news conference in Thailand that she initially thought she had hit a deer and she did not call the police because she panicked.
“I did not think I would run away, but I was very shocked. I tried to call the police but my hands were shaking. I could not do anything,” Howson said.
“I greatly appreciate the assistance of the Thailand authorities and our federal partners who worked tirelessly with us to bring this woman back and to hold her accountable,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in a statement sent to the Lansing State Journal. “It’s hard to imagine how you could drive away and leave a person in the road that you had struck and killed. It will never fill the void for the family but hopefully it brings them a measure of closure.”
If convicted, Howson faces up to 5 years in prison.
Benjamin Kable returned home for the Christmas holidays from Michigan State. The senior was walking on Rochester Road in the Oakland Township when deputies say Howson’s vehicle struck and killed him. A Go Fund me page set up for the family has raised more than $12,000.
“He was a gentle soul who you could always rely on and was always there if you needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to talk to. If you ever needed a good laugh Benjamin was the person you would turn to,” organizers of his Go Fund Me page said.
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