KENT COUNTY, Mich. – The man accused of driving into a triathlete bicycling, and then leaving driving off leaving him paralyzed, faces two felonies.
Benjamin Vanderploeg, 49 of Grand Rapids, was charged Friday with two five-year felonies: driving with a suspended or revoked license causing serious injury, as well as leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious injury. He’s held on a $200,000 bond and due back in court Aug. 31.
Family of the victim Charles Driggers, 66, drove from Toledo spoke with FOX 17 at the arraignment. Driggers’ son Shawn says his father is paralyzed from the waist down, after he was hit bicycling home from a swim, training for an Iron Man competition in Wisconsin next month.
Driggers says his father is fighting from his hospital bed, still in serious condition.
“He fights, he fights for a better life for everybody that's who he is,” said Shawn Driggers of his father Charles. “For him it was getting into the best shape of his life and competing, running marathons, competing in triathlons, and he's a very, very knowledgeable man."
Police say Vanderploeg drove into Driggers bicycling clearing in the bike lane on Cannonsburg Road near Chauncey Avenue Wednesday before 8:30 p.m. After Vanderploeg allegedly hit Driggers, he drove off.
“[My father] was doing the right thing he was doing what he loved and I think the real message that we look for and we want to pass along is: serious incidents like this happen and it's led to my father's paralysis,” said Driggers. “You don't know, you do not know until it hits home."
Driggers on behalf of his father urges anyone behind the wheel to stop everything else: pay attention.
“If you're distracted, if you're not paying attention, I know they say 'share the road,’ but you’ve really got to pay attention to your surroundings when you're driving,” said Driggers.
His father was in the best shape of his life Driggers says, beating prostate cancer 12 years ago. Now they hope he will continue to fight.
“I want people to know that he's going to fight through this and he'll compete,” said Driggers. “He'll compete and the best way that he can someday."
