Detroit driver found guilty in 2023 crash that killed a man, injured another

A jury found a Detroit motorist guilty in the August 2023 crash that killed a man and injured another, according to court records filed Thursday.

Damien Eldridge Thomas was charged in 2024 with one count each of operating while under the influence, causing death, operating while under the influence, causing serious injury and reckless driving, causing death. The jury found him guilty on all counts, according to court records filed with the Third Judicial Circuit Court in Detroit.

According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Michigan State Police troopers responded to the three-vehicle crash on Interstate 75 near Clark Street in Detroit on Aug. 26, 2023, around 2:30 a.m. They found two 27-year-old men in separate vehicles. 

One of the men, identified by the prosecutor's office as Drasan Clanton of Hazel Park, Michigan, died at the scene. The other, a Detroit resident, was taken to the hospital.

Prosecutors said Thomas was driving northbound on the southbound side of I-75 while intoxicated when he crashed head-on with the two other vehicles. He was arrested roughly a year after the incident following an investigation led by the Michigan State Police.

Court records show Thomas is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 12.