Charles Pickett Jr. is a 50 year old man from Battle Creek, Michigan. Pickett was unemployed and lived in Battle Creek with his parents; a family member said his mother and sister own a local hair salon. He drove a blue 1996 Chevrolet pick up truck that was registered to his father.

Pickett previously ran his own company, Pickett's Garage in Tennessee before moving to Battle Creek, Michigan and had recently divorced his wife.

Pickett was charged with a DUI and refused a breathalyzer in February of 2011 in Rhea County, Tennessee however the charges were later dismissed.

In 2012 in Chattanooga, Pickett was ticketed for driving 82 mph in a 45 mph work zone with workers present. Pickett did not pay the ticket and failed to appear in court.

Many of Pickett's Facebook posts were angry and violent. Many of his posts were also crude and made jokes about sex.

Fatal crash

Charles Pickett Jr. was responsible for the 2016 Kalamazoo crash where after driving erratically while under the influence of drugs or alcohol he slammed his pick up truck into 9 cyclists killing five and wounding four in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Tuesday June 7, 2016 at around 6 p.m. Authorities have said that Pickett was under the influence at the time of the crash, but they have not said what drugs were in his system at the time of the crash. ^[1]

The five cyclists Charles Pickett Jr. killed are Debbie Bradley, Suzanne Sippel, Melissa Ann Fevig-Hughes, Tony Nelson, and Larry Paulik.

Charles Pickett Jr. was caught and is being held in custody at Kalamazoo County Jail. He remained at the scene and cooperated with police, according to reports. ^[1]

On Thursday June 9, 2016 charges for Charles Pickett were authorized, with five counts of second-degree murder for the bicyclists that died in the crash, and four counts of reckless driving causing serious impairment for the bicyclists injured in the crash.

He also faces five charges of operating while intoxicated causing death and four counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury.

On Friday June 10, 2016 Charles Pickett was arraigned in Kalamazoo County District Court over video link while he was in Kalamazoo County Jail. At the arraignment, Judge Richard Santoni read the charges Pickett was facing which if he was convicted of Pickett would serve life in prison. Judge Richard Santoni denied bail for Pickett, agreeing with the prosecutor, Jeff Getting that he is a flight risk and poses substantial danger to the community.