KENT COUNTY, MI – Keegan Spencer’s mother and father were brought to tears His sister still remembers the moment she collapsed onto the floor when she heard the heartbreaking news. His brother told the driver, 19-year-old Payton Bradley Ferris, who fatally struck Spencer: “I hate you every single day from sunup to sundown.” Emotions were high in court Monday, Dec.
16, during Ferris’ sentence hearing. It was the words delivered by Spencer’s fiancée that eventually brought Ferris to tears. RELATED: Man who fatally struck young tow truck driver along M-6 enters plea Spencer, 25, was towing vehicles Nov.
4, 2023, when he stopped in the median along M-6 in Caledonia Township. Ferris, then 18, was driving east on M-6, near Kraft Avenue, when the car in front of him slowed. Michigan State Police say he was driving 80 mph, swerved to the left, lost control and drove off the road into the median.
Ferris then struck Spencer, who was out of his tow truck on foot near a crossover, killing him. Ferris pleaded no contest last month to his initial charge of moving violation causing death – a one-year misdemeanor. Spencer, an experienced tow truck operator, left behind two young children and his fiancée when he was killed more than 400 days ago.
The courtroom was standing room only Monday morning with family, friends and other tow truck drivers who knew Spencer in attendance. Many wore apparel with Spencer’s face printed on it, donning the words, “Slow down. Move over.
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