Report: Suspected Drunk Driver In Speeding Maserati Was Reaching For Phone Before Deadly Collision

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP (WWJ) - A 43-year-old man charged with murder in a deadly 100 mile per hour crash in Bloomfield Township was apparently trying to grab a cellphone he dropped just moments before the collision.

Gregory Belkin, of Bloomfield Hills, was charged in late January with second-degree murder and operating under the influence of alcohol in the traffic death of 53-year-old Rhonda Williams, of Oakland Township.

A preliminary exam, originally scheduled for Feb. 16, was put on hold after a judge ordered a competency exam during Belkin's probable cause hearing last week, The Oakland Press reported.

According to police, Williams was killed on Jan. 24 after Belkin crashed his 2014 Maserati into the rear of her 2009 Subaru Legacy, both of which were traveling eastbound on Square Lake Road near Franklin Road. The Subaru was pushed off the roadway and into a barrier fence. Williams was pronounced dead at the hospital; Belkin was also taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries.

Police say Belkin's Maserati was traveling at speeds around 100 miles per hour at the time of the collision.

Investigators say Belkin, a U-S Coast Guard employee, admitted to drinking alcohol before getting behind the wheel. He also reportedly told police he was reaching for a dropped cell phone just moments before the collision; when he looked back up, the crash happened.