Ecorse man to stand trial for fatal hit and run of boy, 8, with autism

(WJBK) - Stephen Williams was back in court - the suspect in a hit and run that killed an eight-year-old boy with autism.

Brandyn Starks was pulling his red wagon on his way to his neighborhood park at Fort Street near Miami in southwest Detroit.

"It is fair to say that Mr. Williams was acting in a manner that was reckless," said Jennifer Douglas, Wayne County assistant prosecutor.

It happened back in April, Detroit police releasing surveillance video of the suspect vehicle - a Chevrolet SUV that investigators say Stephen Williams took to his mom's ex-boyfriend to be repaired following the crash.

Samuel Banks testifying about that conversation.

"He said he wanted me to fix his truck," said Banks. "He said he had an accident."

The defense attorney questioned Banks about who was driving that truck...

"Did Stephen ever tell you that he was the driver of the truck when the truck had an accident?"

"No he didn't," Banks said.

But prosecutors say Williams, from Ecorse, was on a tether that placed him at the scene of the accident. Witnesses placed his truck at the scene of the crash - that traffic ahead of him had slowed to avoid hitting the little boy and that Williams swerved around the other vehicles going 70 to 80 miles per hour.

"We know that he does not stop, he continues to drive and he ends up dragging the child," said the assistant prosecutor.

But the defense attorney Randall Upshaw says witnesses can't say Williams was driving.

"They never said the driver looked anything like the defendant," said Randall Upshaw. They didn't say it was this man, it didn't say it looked like this man, they didn't say it looked similar to this particular person."

But the judge ruled there's enough evidence to send this case to trial.