Woman charged in crash that killed football coach
Ex-wife of Eminem producer charged with 2nd-degree murder
A Huntington Woods woman was arraigned Thursday on second- degree murder and drunk driving charges in a four- car crash in Pleasant Ridge that killed a Royal Oak man, an area high school football coach who was stopped at a traffic light.
Wendy Bass, 54, was charged in front of Oak Park 45th District Judge David Gubow in the fatal Aug. 19 accident on the eastbound 10Mile service drive to I-696 near Woodward.
Bass, her attorneys Jerome
Sabbota and John McManus, took part in the arraignment fromseparate locations through Zoom. Bass was at the Ferndale Police Department.
Gubow released Bass on personal bond.
Pleasant Ridge police Sgt. Robert Ried said Bass had a blood-alcohol level of 0.28 percent, more than three times the state’s legal limit for drunken driving.
Bash crashed her 2020 Mercedes SUV into a Jeep Cherokee, fatally injuring the driver, Ben Jones, 30 ofRoyal Oak, police said.
Jones was the head coach of Cranbrook Kingswood’s football team when he died.
The crash started a chain
reaction where the Jeep crashed into another car, which then struck a third vehicle stopped at the traffic light, police said.
“We believe she was driving in excess of the 40mph speed limit,” Ried said. “A Pleasant Ridge officer and an off-dutySouthfieldofficeradministered aid to the victim … who was taken to Beaumont Hospital by Ferndale Fire” emergency employees.
Jones was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
When police arrived, Bass was out of her vehicle and sitting down as passersby checked on her and other people involved in the crash. She had beenwearing a seatbelt and had only minor injuries.
Police investigators still have Bass’sMercedes.
Defense attorney Sabbota said his client has no prior
criminal convictions and is not a flight risk.
“She has had every opportunity to flee and she never did,” he said. “I don’t think she is a risk. She’s been in in-patient treatment and is now in out-patient treatment and therapy.”
Bass is a lifelong resident of the area. A graduate of Oak Park High School, she has lived in Huntington Woods for the past 18 years, according to a pretrial services report.
The report said she is supported by royalties from her former husband, Mark Bass, one of the Bass Brotherswho won Grammy Awards for their producing work with rap star Eminem.
If Bass violates her bond conditions, she’ll have topost a $50,000 cash bond. Conditions of her bond prohibit her from using any alcohol or alcohol products, such as hand sanitizer, or marijuana or drugs unless they are from her doctor.
Bass will have to wear an alcohol tether and undergo random testing.
She toldGubowshehasno vehicle, but he said if she obtains one itwill have to be fitted with a car Breathalyzer.
The second-degree murder charge against Bass is punishable by up to life in prison. She is also charged with first-time drunken driving causing a death and reckless driving.
The next court hearing in the case will be a probable cause conference beforeOak Park 45th District JudgeMichelleAppel at 9 a.m. Nov. 3.