A 55-year-old Florida man is facing eight charges related to the fatal crash in Tuscola County last Friday night.
Pavel B. Shchukin has been charged with three counts of moving violation causing death, which carries a one-year maximum sentence, and five counts of moving violation causing serious impairment of a body function, which carries a 93-day maximum sentence, following the September 26 crash in Ellington Township that injured five and killed three.
Based on investigation of Friday night’s accident, Shchukin is accused of failing to stop at a stop sign on Deckerville Road as he drove a loaded semi-truck south on Hurd’s Corner Road, causing him to collide with a Jeep travelling east on Deckerville Road.
The eastbound vehicle was occupied by eight residents of Cass City, three of whom were pronounced dead on the scene. The other occupants of the Jeep were transported to area hospitals by helicopter and MMR, with some of the occupants in critical condition. Later reports identified the injured and dead as belonging to the Putnam family of reality TV fame, with the family’s patriarch Bill, his wife Barb, and daughter-in-law Megan killed in the crash.
Shchukin and his female passenger were also transported to the hospital with minor injuries. Shchukin is being held on a $100,000 cash or surety bond at the Tuscola County Jail.
