OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Michael Kable, his wife Stacey, and their children are trying to process the death of their youngest son, 22-year-old Ben.
Ben Kable, a 22-year-old senior at Michigan State University, was home for the holidays when he became the victim of a fatal hit-and-run.
They say he had made plans to arrive and get home safely from a friend’s New Year’s Eve party.
“He took an Uber,” Michael Kable said. “He would never drink or drive.”
When it was time to go home, Ben requested another Uber. The Uber driver put him out on Rochester Road near Whims Lane in Oakland Township for reasons they still don’t understand.
It was just before 6 a.m. the road was dark. There were no sidewalks and barely a shoulder to walk on.
“He texted his friend and said they kicked him out, and he was walking from there,” Michael Kable said.
Ben didn’t make it far. As he tried to get to safety, he was hit by a woman in a BMW 3 series, either white, gray, or silver in color.
A witness to the crash stopped and tried to help him. The driver took off. Investigators believe she is in her mid-30s and that the car she was driving likely has hood and front-end damage.
Ben Kable loved fishing, hunting, and his family. He even took up forging and practiced with scrap pieces of metal so that he could one day create a knife for his dad.
“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare,” Michael Kable said. “Terrible to get that call and to find out someone just left him in the road. I don’t know how you reconcile that. It’s very difficult.”
The 22-year-old graduated from Rochester High School, where he wrestled, played football, and made so many friends.
That is how the Kable’s say they want to remember Ben. As a great kid who was loved by so many.
“To the driver, anyone can have an accident that can happen but leaving someone in the road like that, it just goes across the line,” Michael Kable said. “For anyone that thinks they might know who did they, you need to do the right thing. This is going to haunt you the rest of your life, and it’s going to haunt us the rest of our lives as well but at least there can be some closure.”
Anyone with information should contact the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK UP. There is a reward for information leading to an arrest.