PAW PAW, Mich. — Logan Brown, 31, will spend the next 7–15 years in prison for hitting and killing a Van Buren County Road Commission member, Rene Rangel.
The sentence came down in a Van Buren County courtroom on Tuesday, April 15. It was a moment more than a year in the making.
Rangel was hit and killed on March 3, 2023. Rangel was doing his job, holding a stop sign during road work in Lawrence, Michigan, when Brown hit him with his truck, killing him.
Rangel's family said in victim impact statements Monday that nothing can replace the hole in their hearts after losing him.
“My life has been turned upside down. I lost the love of my life, my best friend,” Stacey Hollenbeck, Rangel's long-time fiance, said in a victim impact statement.
“I didn’t know when Rene said, 'Bye, Stacy, love you' that Friday morning, March 3, that would be the last I saw him,” Hollenbeck said.
Many of Rangel's loved ones gave victim impact statements in Van Buren County Court. Lots of Rangel's coworkers at the road commission were in the audience. They were easy to spot, wearing yellow safety shirts.
FOX 17 caught up with Linnea Rader, who worked with Rene at the road commission.
“The sentence today doesn’t bring Rene back. But it lets all of us know that we matter, that every public works professional in this country matters," Linnea Rader said.
Rader described Rene as the kind of man who never let anything hold him back.
“You can’t even put into words how amazing this guy was. When he walked in with his prosthetic arm during his interview, I thought, 'What in the world? How is he going to do this stuff?' That man could operate every piece of equipment, everything we’ve ever done, without question,” Rader said.
Rene's family says they know he is looking down on them all today.
“We’re celebrating. We got our justice," Crystal Hodgemire, Rene's sister, said. “I know my brother’s not coming back, but I think he’d be proud of us,” Hodgemire continued.
By complete coincidence, Monday, the day Brown was sentenced, happens to fall on National Work Zone Awareness Week.
This year's message is: "Work zones are temporary, actions behind the wheel can last forever."
The campaign launched in 2000 as part of the "Toward Zero Deaths" safety campaign.
According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, preliminary 2023 statistics show 7,237 work zone crashes, 17 fatal work zone crashes, 20 work zone fatalities, two of which were road workers. One of those road workers was Rene Rangel.
There were nearly 1,900 work zone injuries.
The ultimate message from Rangel's loved ones on Monday was one of roadside safety, encouraging everyone to slow down in work zones.
“You’re late for work? So what, you're late for work. You won’t be that late. But you’ll save somebody’s life maybe,” Hodgemire said.
The Van Buren County Sheriff has been accompanying the Van Buren County Road Commission as they do their work lately, to ensure everyone is following the laws and to provide a sense of safety for roadside workers.
Logan Brown addressed the court on Monday. He apologized for the pain he has caused.
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