Jan 6, 2008 4:18 pm US/Eastern
Sister: Wrong-Way Deaths Accused 'Not A Monster'
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) ―
A man accused of killing a woman and four children in a wrong-way interstate crash while he was drunk made a mistake but is not a monster, his sister said.
Michael Gagnon faces five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide in the Dec. 30 crash on I-280 in Toledo.
Gagnon, 24, is "not a monster," Theresa Gagnon, of Muskegon in western Michigan, told the Detroit Free Press on Friday.
Police said tests showed Gagnon, of Adrian, Mich., had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit to drive when he drove his pickup truck in the wrong direction.
The truck slammed into a minivan filled with six children and the husband and wife who had spent Christmas with their family in Michigan.
Bethany Griffin, 36, of Parkville, and three of her daughters, ages 2 months to 10 years, died in the crash.
Her husband, Danny Griffin Jr., 36, who was the van driver, was treated and released from a hospital.
A 10-year-old daughter of Griffin who lived with her mother in Redford Township, Mich., also died.
Another daughter, 8, also of Redford Township remained in serious condition Saturday night at a Toledo hospital.
A fourth child of Bethany Griffin, Beu Burkman, 8, was treated at a hospital and released.
Theresa Gagnon said her brother is "very remorseful" and has been crying and praying.
"He is a human and he made a mistake like all of us do. And it so sadly had to do with the Griffin and Burkman family," said Gagnon, 25. "Our thoughts and prayers will always be with them -- always."
She said what happened is out of character for her brother, who comes from a working family of four children.
"He was always there for my whole family. ... He was our rock and still is," she said.
She said Gagnon had been attending community college to become an architect.
He and his brother own Gagnon Construction.
A statement released by the family says, "Our brother cannot apologize in person to everyone that has been affected, but we promise that we will do that for him."
It also reads, "The sudden and devastating loss of such innocent lives ... is a loss of unbearable tolerance."
Gagnon is being held in a Toledo jail on $1.25 million bond.
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