St. Clair councilman crashed into disabled man after leaving restaurant drunk

St. Clair councilman arrested for driving drunk

A St. Clair councilman was intoxicated when he got in his car, left his restaurant late Thursday night before crashing into another car. One of the victims in the smashed car, Mark Waitman, knew exactly who the offender was when he was struck and his car suffered major damage: Mike Laporte.

ST. CLAIR, Mich. (FOX 2) - A St. Clair councilman was intoxicated when he got in his car, left his restaurant late Thursday night before crashing into another car.

One of the victims in the smashed car, Mark Waitman, knew exactly who the offender was when he was struck and his car suffered major damage: Mike Laporte.

"As a representative of the city of St. Clair I just think it’s very inappropriate," he told FOX 2 the day after the crash. "I think he should be removed from city council because he’s not setting a very good example."

Waitman was in his car with his roommate who was driving at the time. Both were wearing seatbelts when Laporte struck the passenger side of their vehicle.

St. Clair police confirmed that around 10 p.m. Laporte was involved in a car crash involving one other vehicle and two other residents from East China Township. LaPorte was allegedly leaving the parking lot of his restaurant The Voyageur, which is on South Riverside Avenue.

Waitman said his roommate had tried crossing over to the left-hand turn lane to avoid the car. "That's when he struck us."

"He came out fast and just smashed the side of the vehicle. The fire department looked at it and they think it's totaled," he said.

Waitman is disabled and living off his disability checks. He said the last 24 hours have been extremely challenging.

"I did speak to my doctor’s today because there’s some other things going on I noticed today," he said. "I didn’t notice last night - some swelling in my head, my body is just in so much pain from this, it just hurts, it’s bad enough I’m disabled this just compiled on it."