‘You obviously only care about yourself’: Man gets prison for killing road worker

VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI — More than two dozen coworkers of Rene Rangel Jr.’s entered a courtroom Monday morning wearing bright yellow Van Buren County Road Commission T-shirts with Rangel’s name across the back.

Together, they filled in each of the five rows behind Rangel’s grieving family. They awaited the sentence of the man who struck and killed Rangel in a work zone as Rangel held a traffic control sign on March 3, 2023.

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Logan Ryan Brown, 31, was driving a 1997 Dodge pickup and failed to follow traffic controls while trying to pass another pickup truck in the work zone on CR 681 in Arlington Township that morning. Brown rear-ended the other truck and then hit and killed Rangel.

On Monday, April 15 — on the first day of National Work Zone Awareness Week — Brown was sentenced to a minimum of seven years and two months in prison and a maximum of 15 years.

He was credited with 178 days time served.

Brown, of Hartford, was found guilty Monday, Feb. 5, on two of the three charges he faced for striking and killing the 58-year-old Dowagiac man. A jury found him guilty of both operating a vehicle in a work zone causing death and operating without insurance, court records state.

He was found not guilty of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death.

Van Buren County Circuit Judge Kathleen M. Brickley also ordered Brown to pay $253,616 in restitution to Rangel’s family.

“My life has been turned upside down,” said Rangel’s longtime fiancée, Stacey Hollenbeck, during a victim impact statement. “I’ve lost the love of my life. I can’t explain what it feels like to unexpectedly and tragically lose the man you love, shared a home and daily life with for over 15 years.

“I wake up each today without seeing him or hearing his voice. I don’t hear him say ‘I love you’ anymore. I don’t hear him laugh and I don’t see him smile.”

RELATED: Family, community gather to remember road commission worker killed on job

Hollenbeck called out Brown for past discretions, that included a long list of traffic citations ranging from speeding to careless driving to running a stop sign. Brown, at the time of the incident, was also facing felony charges for a home invasion and assault with intent to kill.

He eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.

“You are an irresponsible, dangerous, noncompliant person refusing to become a better person or improve,” Hollenbeck said. “You obviously only care about yourself. The phone call you chose to make (after your arrest) shows you only cared about how your actions impacted you.”

That phone call was a request to have his now former girlfriend activate his insurance after killing Rangel in the crash, something Brickley also referenced when issuing the sentence.

“Almost immediately, his interest was getting his insurance going on his car and putting his former girlfriend at risk of violating the law,” Brickley said. “I can’t imagine that being on the mind of a law-abiding, conscientious person who just participated in an event causing someone to suffer a horrific death.

“It gives me some pause for rehabilitative potential.”

Brickley said she hopes the sentence will prompt others to approach construction zones more cautiously out of concern for those working.

“This sentence today doesn’t bring Rene back, but it lets all of us know, we matter, that every public works professional in this country matters. That our lives mean something and it will keep people accountable for their actions,” said Linnea Rader, Van Buren County Road Commission finance and human resources director.

Rader, who was working as interim director for the road commission when Rangel was killed, said she and Rangel’s former coworkers were not expecting a sentence as severe as the one issued.

“Over 1,900 people were injured in a work zone last year and 20 died,” she said. “Two of the people who died were road workers. One was Rene. That’s two too many, that’s 20 too many, that’s 1,900 too many.”

Rader described Rangel as an amazing man, who never let the fact he had a prosthetic arm prevent him from accomplishing any duties. Every day, he showed everyone how unstoppable he was, she said.

“Friday March 3, 2023 at 8:23 a.m., Logan Brown did what nobody had done. He stopped Rene,” Rader said, while asking the judge for a harsh sentence. “He stopped a man who never let anyone stop him, ever.”

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