By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A plea has been entered by a Howell man for a hit and run accident earlier this year with a school bus in Genoa Township.

39-year-old Sean Purcell was charged with one count of failure to stop after a collision and one count of operating while intoxicated after the February 19th incident. The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were dispatched just after 7:30 that morning to a crash involving a 2016 GMC Sierra pickup truck and a Livingston Educational Service Agency school bus at the intersection of Challis Road and Conrad Road, which authorities described as “snow packed” at the time.

The bus, which had no passengers on board, was disabled by the crash. Despite suffering heavy front-end damage, deputies say the pickup truck fled the scene after the crash. However, the bus driver was able to provide a description of the suspect vehicle, which was located shortly thereafter. When deputies approached the vehicle, they say Purcell fled on foot into the woods, but eventually surrendered after being located. Neither the suspect nor the bus driver suffered any injuries in the crash.

In court earlier this month, Purcell agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of Operating While Visibly Impaired in exchange for the Operating While Intoxicated count being dropped. He also pleaded guilty to failure to stop after a collision.

He will be sentenced on August 9th by 53rd District Court Judge Daniel Bain.