18-year-old hit, killed on I-75 after getting out of taxi

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By Tom Beyerlein and Kristin McAllister
Staff Writers Updated 9:59 PM Monday, August 24, 2009

MORAINE — An 18-year-old Detroit woman, whom police said apparently had a history of mental issues, was killed early Monday, Aug. 24, when she was struck by a tractor-trailer rig on Interstate 75 after getting out of a taxi.

Neither police nor the grandmother of Michaela Michelle Elaine West know why she was in the Dayton area, Moraine Detective Paul Guess and Sgt. Russ Imler said .

West, whose grandmother said “has a history of mental health issues and bipolar” disorder, asked a cab driver to drop her off at an inexpensive hotel, then changed her mind and wanted to go to any area Starbucks, Guess said.

She borrowed the cab driver’s cell phone, but became angry at him and threw the phone at him. The driver pulled over to the berm, where she got out onto I-75 south of the Dryden Road exit. That was about 2:30 a.m.

The driver lost sight of West, Guess said, drove to the next exit at Central Avenue where he called police.

The cabbie told police he initially picked her up at the downtown Dayton Greyhound bus station, where she said her destination was in Miamisburg.

She jumped out of the cab briefly at a traffic light at Fifth and Jefferson streets.

“Based on some statements she made to the cabbie, she was clearly struggling with some mental health issues,” Guess said.

As they drove I-75, “she told him it was too dark where they were,” he said. “They were simply driving down the interstate.”

West wanted to change her destination and became distraught when the cabbie asked where she wanted to go, Guess said.

The names of the people in the truck that hit the woman were not released, but Guess said they are from Canada.

“At this point, there’s no indication that there will be any citations for violations,” he said. “But that, of course, is subject to change pending completion of the investigation.”

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