By Arica Frisbey– Sanilac Broadcasting Company
Tia Graham of Croswell was in tears as she took the stand in Sanilac County District Court on Tuesday. Graham had been an unwilling witness on August 7th when Shawn Patrick Woodruff, her cousin, allegedly killed 31-year-old Ben Green during an intentional hit and run in Worth Township.
Graham, who is also related to Green on her grandfather’s side, was a witness in Tuesday’s probable cause hearing. She testified that her and Woodruff had been spending time at the apartment of Alicia Krumenaker on the night of August 7th, when Ben Green–Krumenaker’s boyfriend and father of her child–arrived on a motorcycle and remained outside in the parking lot. Krumenaker was present for the first half of Tuesday’s hearing, excusing herself from the courtroom at some point during testimony.
Graham testified that Woodruff had prevented her from approaching Green to say hello as they were leaving, instead ordering her to get into Woodruff’s truck. When Green, not wearing a helmet but his usual black baseball cap, peeled out of the apartment complex’s parking lot on his motorcycle, Woodruff took off at a high rate of speed and followed closely behind.
Woodruff allegedly told Graham to close her eyes as they gained on Green from behind. Still, she peeked, watching as the motorcycle’s rear lights got closer and closer to the windshield until, “I felt two bumps,” she said. “All I see is the back of the lights on the motorcycle and I felt two bumps.”
At that point, she tried to jump out of the truck before Woodruff allegedly grabbed her arm hard enough to leave bruises. Graham testified that Woodruff did not try to swerve and neither of the men used their brakes in the incident.
In the direct aftermath, Graham said, she couldn’t remember what, if anything, Woodruff was saying, only that she wanted to go home and that, at first, Woodruff would not let her, taking her instead back to his trailer. There, he called a friend identified by Graham as only “Nick,” telling him to go to the accident scene and check on Green. In the meantime, though Woodruff threatened to “put on his boots and take [her] out back” to silence Graham for having witnessed the event, there was no discussion about going to the police or telling anyone else.
When Nick arrived at the trailer, shaking his head, Graham broke down before finally getting taken home by Nick. Returning to her home, Graham found her grandmother, who took her to police to report what had happened. She later went to McLaren Port Huron Hospital for treatment of the injuries sustained in the accident and allegedly from Woodruff. Photographs of Graham’s injuries were shown at Tuesday’s hearing.
When the defendant’s lawyer attempted to suggest that some of the photographed wounds were actually from the accident and not from his client, saying he heard that she had told others — not the police– how she hit the windshield, Graham was adamant that she had only hit her head on the roof of the truck during the accident and that the rest of her injuries were indeed from Woodruff. Through cross-examination, Graham confirmed that Woodruff had told her about having a conflict with Green, saying that if he saw Green, he’d kill him.
During Woodruff’s arraignment two weeks ago, he was charged with open murder, reckless driving causing death, failure to stop at the scene of an accident when at fault causing death, witness intimidation, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, and misdemeanors including moving violation causing death, aggravated assault against a witness and failure to report an accident, as well as notice as a habitual offender, fourth offense. If convicted, Woodruff could receive life in prison without parole for his maximum sentence. He is due back in front of District Court Judge Ross on Tuesday, October 11th at 10:00 a.m. for a continuation of Tuesday’s probable cause hearing, and Tuesday, October 18th at 1:30 p.m. for the preliminary examination.
