New details emerge about a 38-mile drive that a Macomb County judge's daughter describes as "beyond dangerous," Jameson Cook reports in The Macomb Daily.
That quote and others come from text messages sent during this month's ride by the unnamed 15-year-old, as well as a statement to Franklin Police after arriving home.
Brenda Conway, who accompanied Judge Richard Caretti to his nephew's wedding at Sycamore Hills Golf Club and Banquet Center, was arrested for drunken driving with underage occupants about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 13 in front of his ex-wife's home. Conway registered .18 percent blood-alcohol content in a preliminary breathalyzer test, police said.
The 15-year-old says in text messages to her mother during her late night-early morning ride from Macomb Township to Franklin Village with Brenda Conway that Conway was “drunk beyond belief” and “driving like a maniac,” in a copy of the written statement acquired by The Macomb Daily.
“When she drove it was beyond dangerous to have myself in the car,” she says in the statement. “She often drove too fast.”
She says her father, whom she says was also drunk, “repeatedly” told Conway to slow down. . . . "I thought we were going to go off the side of the road."
The judge's 12-year-old daughter also was in Conway's Volkswagen SUV.
Cook also quotes from a statement to police by the judge's former wife. They divorced in 2011 after 16 years of marriage.
Conway, a 50-year-old Troy resident, faces a pretrial hearing Feb. 4 on the misdemeanor charge in 46th District Court in Southfield.
Earlier coverage
Judge Caretti: 'I Was Certainly Not Intoxicated' During Drive With Daughters, Jan. 17
This Saturday Night Drive Is One Macomb Judge Richard Caretti Must Regret, Jan. 16
