Chesterfield junior charged with leaving Sunday morning hit and run; Identity of victim withheld by police

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A Chesterfield junior was charged Monday with leaving the scene of Sunday morning’s hit-and-run pedestrian accident.

Charles Joseph Scicluna, 21, could face up to five years in prison for the felony. The Central Michigan University student was arraigned Monday in Isabella County Trial Court before Judge William Rush on charges of failure to stop at a personal injury accident, operating while intoxicated causing injury, failure to stop at a property damage accident and reckless driving.

The 20-year-old victim of the accident was listed in critical condition at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids Tuesday.

He turned himself in Sunday afternoon to Mount Pleasant Police, said Public Information Officer Dave Sabuda.

Police still have not released the name of the Mount Pleasant man injured in the accident, but several independent sources close to him, including an on-campus roommate, have confirmed his identity as Matthew Dominque Green, a CMU junior and son of a university employee.

Mount Pleasant Police Capt. Thomas Forsberg said police have withheld the identity of the victim purely out of respect for family.

“The Mount Pleasant Police Department has received no outside requests to hold the name of the victim in the hit-and-run accident,” Forsberg said.

At 3:20 a.m. Sunday, Green was pushing a car out of gas eastbound on Bellows with a relative. His car was sideswiped by Scicluna’s vehicle, according to a news release from Mount Pleasant Police. He was taken to Central Michigan Community Hospital, then airlifted to Grand Rapids.

“After he was hit, the same car that had hit him, he ended up being pinned underneath, and that’s how he ended up being dragged,” Sabuda said Sunday.

Scicluna also was charged with operating while intoxicated causing serious injury, failure to stop at a property damage accident and reckless driving. He turned himself into Mount Pleasant Police Sunday afternoon, Sabuda said.

Scicluna has requested a court-appointed attorney and is scheduled for a preliminary examination at 8:15 a.m. Thursday in trial court.

He is being held on a $500,000 or 10 percent cash/surety bond.

Portions of Bellows Street were blocked off on both sides of Mission Street in the early morning hours Sunday, as police processed evidence and recreated the crime scene.

Police are still seeking witness and any additional information for the investigation, and anyone with information is asked to contact city police at 779-5100, an anonymous TIP line at 779-9111 or Central Dispatch at 773-1000.