Off-duty firefighter is charged with second-degree murder, operating while intoxicating causing death. 
 
 Off-duty Warren firefighter Tad Alan Dennis was arraigned Nov. 24, 2015, at 41-A District Court on charges of second-degree murder and operating while intoxicated causing death in the death of Diana Pozderca, 17. (Photo: Sterling Heights Police Departme) 
 
 A new car that Diana Pozderca’s parents had scrimped and saved to buy the Sterling Heights teen was awaiting as a surprise for her on Sept. 11 as she drove home from a friend’s house. 
 
 The 17-year-old, June graduate of Stevenson High School was planning on visiting her older brother the next day at Michigan State University, and her parents were waiting at home to give her the Ford Fusion they had bought her. 
 
 "Tragically, Diana never made it home,” Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said at a news conference today. “She was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Smith said. "This poor girl never had a chance." 
 
 “She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This poor girl never had a chance.” Eric Smith, Macomb County Prosecutor 
 
 As Pozderca neared home, just before 9 p.m., her 2001 Mercury Sable was struck head-on by a vehicle driven by veteran off-duty Warren firefighter Tad Alan Dennis. 
 
 Smith said Dennis, at a conservative estimate, was driving at least twice the posted 35 m.p.h. speed limit on Plumbrook and had a blood alcohol level twice the legal driving limit of 0.08 when his vehicle plowed head-on into Pozderca's Sable. The force of the collision pushed the teen’s car back 75 feet, police reported at the time. 
 
 A picture of the aftermath of the crash was in the background today as Smith announced that Dennis, 43, of Sterling Heights, is charged with second-degree murder and operating while intoxicated causing death in the teen's death. 
 
 (Photo: Sterling Heights Police Department) 
 
 The murder charge, if convicted, carries up to life in prison. The other charge is a 15-year felony, Smith said. 
 
 Dennis was booked at the Sterling Heights Police Department, turning himself in today in a wheelchair after he was seriously hurt in the crash. He has been a Warren firefighter for 15 years, Smith said. 
 
 Smith said: "I have no sympathy for this defendant whatsoever." 
 
 The prosecutor's office asked for no bond at Dennis' arraignment this afternoon in 41-A District Court in Sterling Heights. But defense attorney Stephen Rabaut told the court that Dennis, whom he called a highly decorated firefighter with no criminal history, is not a risk to the community, can't drive, is taking 14 prescription drugs and is awaiting more surgeries. 
 
 "If he would have gone somewhere, he would have gone by now," Rabaut said. 
 
 Assistant Prosecutor William Cataldo called the charges "very serious" with a "strong likelihood of conviction." He said Dennis was in a position of public trust and a young girl was killed. 
 
 After several minutes of silence to mull his decision, Judge Michael Maceroni set bond at $500,000 personal recognizance but said that would be reviewed when Dennis is able to drive again. Maceroni called the charges "horrible" and said the consequences were tragic. 
 
 A probable cause conference was set for Dec. 8 and a preliminary exam was set for Dec. 15. 
 
 Dennis' wife, father-in-law and other relatives were in court for his video arraignment. Rabaut had no comment after the hearing. 
 
 Police said that Dennis' Ford Escape was westbound on Plumbrook "at a high rate of speed," then went left of center in a mostly residential section of the city, slamming into Pozderca's eastbound car. The vehicles stopped near Plainview. 
 
 Smith said there were no skid marks prior to the collision, indicating Dennis did not brake. 
 
 "This just screamed the charge of second-degree murder," the prosecutor said at the news conference. 
 
 “This just screamed the charge of second-degree murder.” Eric Smith, Macomb County Prosecutor 
 
 He said the black boxes in both vehicles were destroyed from the impact. Investigators sent the boxes to the manufacturers to obtain information, but the manufacturers were unable to do so. They then sent the boxes to the software designers of the boxes, where employees were still unable to obtain data. Investigators reverted to old-school accident reconstruction with a former state trooper, Smith said. 
 
 The prosecutor said Pozderca's family chose not to be at today's announcement, still mourning their loss of a young woman who was due to start college and was looking forward to entering the medical field, according to a www.gofundme.com campaign.The family could not be reached for comment after the hearing. 
 
 "This defendant took all the joy away from this family," Smith said. 
 
 Warren Fire Commissioner Wilburt (Skip) McAdams said Dennis was placed on unpaid administrative leave, receiving no wages or fringe benefits, since the week after the crash. He said the department was aware of today's announcement, requested a copy of the charges from the prosecutor's office and will be reviewing them promptly. 
 
 McAdams said Dennis, who has two daughters, was a driver of department apparatus. He said Dennis had no history of discipline and has received several awards for service. He said Dennis got off work at 7:30 a.m. the day of the accident, which happened a little more than a month before Pozderca was to turn 18. 
 
 "He's just a good guy who made a bad choice. We don't condone the choice he made," McAdams said, adding sympathy for Pozderca's family. "You can't replace the loss of a child. For Tad, he is a member of our family and they're affected." 
 
 With Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) traditionally being the biggest bar night of the year, Smith pleaded with people not to drink and drive. 
 
 "Don't put my family at risk," the prosecutor said. "Don't put your family at risk." 
 
 Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1jhXrXB ||||| Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith, left, accompanied by Sterling Heights police Lt. Dave Smith, speaks at a press conference Tuesday announcing second-degree murder and drunken-driving-causing-death charges against off-duty Warren firefighter Tad Dennis, 44, of Sterling Heights, in the fatal crash on Plumbrook on Sept. 11 that killed Diana Pozderca, 17, of Sterling Heights. David Angell--The Macomb Daily 
 
 A 44-year-old Warren firefighter was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder for a September head-on crash in Sterling Heights that killed a 17-year-old girl. 
 
 Tad Alan Dennis of Sterling Heights appeared via video feed for arraignment at the 41A District Court in Sterling Heights where he was also charged with drunken driving causing death for the death of Diana Pozderca of Sterling Heights. 
 
 Judge Michael Maceroni rejected Assistant Macomb Prosecutor William Cataldoï¿½s request that Dennis be held without bond. Maceroni allowed him to be released on a $500,000 personal bond, adding the bond may be reviewed as Dennis further recuperates. 
 
 ï¿½These are horrible charges, with tragic consequences,ï¿½ Maceroni said from the bench, but added: ï¿½There doesnï¿½t appear to be a risk of flight, not at this juncture anyway.ï¿½ 
 
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 Dennis sat in a chair with his hands folded across his lap and answered questions loudly. 
 
 His wife and in-laws attended the hearing. 
 
 Dennisï¿½ attorney, Steven Rabaut, told the judge his client is in no condition to operate a motor vehicle. Dennis suffered numerous broken bones that required multiple surgeries and faces additional operations, and takes 14 prescription medications, Rabaut said, adding Dennis is a highly decorated firefighter with no criminal history. 
 
 ï¿½Mr. Dennis is fully aware that he will be charged in this matter,ï¿½ Rabaut said in court. 
 
 Rabaut further said Dennis was in no position to drive or try to flee, saying if he could travel, ï¿½he would have been gone by now.ï¿½ 
 
 Rabaut declined further comment to reporters outside of court. 
 
 Earlier Tuesday, Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith, accompanied by Sterling Heights police Lt. Dave Smith, announced the charges at a press conference at the county Administration Building in Mount Clemens. 
 
 ï¿½Unfortunately, he made a very bad decision that ended in horrible consequences for everyone involved,ï¿½ Lt. Smith said. ï¿½Heï¿½s got some very serious charges heï¿½s going to have to answer to.ï¿½ 
 
 Dennis was off-duty at the time of the 8:30 p.m. Sept. 11 crash when his Ford Escape collided with the Mercury Sable driven by Pozderca on Plumbrook Road, police said. Pozderca died a short time after the crash at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital in Clinton Township. Dennis was removed with the Jaws of Life. 
 
 Both drivers were heading home. Dennisï¿½ Escape, traveling west, crossed over the middle lane and into the oncoming lane occupied by Pozdercaï¿½s Sable, police said. 
 
 Dennis was traveling more than twice the speed limit and was intoxicated to a level at least twice the legal limit of .08 percent, according to Prosecutor Smith. A witness who saw Dennisï¿½ vehicle estimated the speed at 80 mph, he said. 
 
 A charge of second-degree murder in a traffic crash is rare. But additional factors that led prosecutors to charging Dennis with such a severe offense include Dennis residing less than one mile from the crash scene and his 15 years of experience as a firefighter. 
 
 ï¿½Heï¿½s in an area heï¿½s very familiar with, driving twice the (speed) limit, as a firefighter knowing the devastation of drunk driving ... twice the legal limit (of intoxication),ï¿½ Smith said. 
 
 Second-degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison, and drunken driving causing death is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. 
 
 Eric Smith said the incident has devastated the family of Diana Pozderca. 
 
 ï¿½This poor girl never had a chance. As a father of three, I canï¿½t imagine what the family is going through,ï¿½ Smith said. ï¿½This defendant took all the joy away from this family and instead replaced it with heartache.ï¿½ 
 
 Some type of charges have been anticipated for several weeks, while investigators probed and Dennis was in treatment. Smith said the delay in issuing charges had nothing to do with Dennisï¿½ condition but was caused by the high speed of the crash destroying the ï¿½black boxesï¿½ in both vehicles. 
 
 Police initially did not have information about the speed at which Davis was travelling. 
 
 ï¿½So we had to go to the old-school accident reconstruction,ï¿½ Smith said. ï¿½Lucky for us, we were able to access the stateï¿½s foremost expert in accident reconstruction, Tim Brown.ï¿½ 
 
 Smith said Pozdercaï¿½s family was kept informed of the case and decided not to attend the press conference. 
 
 In the days after the accident, Dianaï¿½s father told The Macomb Daily that while he and his family are highly upset over the loss of their loved one, they do not hold any anger against the driver allegedly responsible for her death. 
 
 ï¿½I cannot want to hurt his family by saying bad things,ï¿½ said Ion Pozderca, a Romanian native, while planning his daughterï¿½s funeral. ï¿½I heard he has two kids, so he is father too. But I think he made poor decision to be drinking and speeding.ï¿½ 
 
 Smith would not divulge Dennisï¿½ blood-alcohol content, but based on calculations from tests of his blood drawn at a hospital, he was more than twice the legal limit, 0.08 percent, and would have qualified for ï¿½super-drunkï¿½ status, 0.17 percent or above. 
 
 Officials declined to provide details of Dennisï¿½ whereabouts prior to the crash. 
 
 Smith explained why he sought no bond for Dennis. 
 
 ï¿½Letï¿½s make it clear, I have no sympathy for this defendant whatsoever,ï¿½ he said. ï¿½Every day this defendant has the opportunity to hug his family, see his family, as opposed to the Pozderca family who will never see Diana again.ï¿½ 
 
 Smith said there will be no plea deal in the case. 
 
 Pozderca was a recent graduate of Stevenson High School in Sterling Heights. At the time of the crash, she was driving home to receive a new Ford Fusion her parents had bought for her. She planned to travel to Michigan State University to visit her brother and watch the Spartans football game against Oregon the next day. 
 
 Friends and neighbors described her as a bubbly, outgoing and empathetic young woman who loved animals -- especially cats -- and enjoyed dancing. She had hoped to become a medical assistant. 
 
 A roadside memorial remains at the crash scene. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.
– Diana Pozderca was on her way home from a friend's house in her 2001 Mercury Sable around 8:30pm on the night of Sept. 11. At her Sterling Heights, Mich., home there was a surprise waiting: a new Ford Fusion her parents had saved up for and planned to give her the night before she was to drive to visit her brother at Michigan State University. But the 17-year-old, who had graduated high school in June and planned to start college and go into the medical field, "never made it home," Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said at a news conference Tuesday. "She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This poor girl never had a chance." She was hit head-on by a vehicle allegedly driven by an off-duty firefighter going at least twice the 35mph speed limit with a blood alcohol level at least twice the legal 0.08 limit, the Detroit Free Press reports. She died at a nearby hospital, the Macomb Daily reports. That firefighter, Tad Alan Dennis, was charged with second-degree murder (which carries up to a life sentence) and operating while intoxicated causing death (which is a 15-year felony) Tuesday, and an assistant prosecutor said there is a "strong likelihood of conviction." The 15-year firefighting veteran, who the Free Press describes as "highly decorated," was also seriously injured in the crash, and turned himself in in a wheelchair. The father of two daughters had gotten off work at 7:30am the day of the crash, and his car allegedly drifted left of center as he approached Pozderca, who was coming from the other direction as she neared her house, in a mostly residential area. There were no skid marks, indicating he didn't brake before the collision, Smith said. The force pushed Pozderca's car backward by 75 feet. Dennis has been on unpaid administrative leave with no benefits since the week after the crash. A GoFundMe campaign for Pozderca's funeral expenses has raised nearly $17,000.