{"id":444567,"date":"2026-08-27T00:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/444567\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T00:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:26:19","slug":"oakland-county-attorney-charged-in-hit-and-run-crash-that-killed-woman-in-fraser-macomb-daily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/444567\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland County attorney charged in hit-and-run crash that killed woman in Fraser \u2013 Macomb Daily"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Oakland County attorney was charged Wednesday in connection to a hit-and-run crash that took the life of a Roseville woman who was well-known in the defense and aerospace industry.<\/p>\n

Edward Nahhat, 64, of Royal Oak was arraigned via Zoom in 39th District Court in Roseville, where he stood mute to charges of fleeing the scene of an accident resulting in death and lying to police during an investigation. Judge Joseph Boedeker set bond at $100,000.<\/p>\n

He is accused of rear-ending Julie Fathbruckner as she drove on her motorcycle with his Ford 150 pickup truck Sunday on Utica Road, north of Mulvey Road, in Fraser, before driving off. Fathbruckner was riding alongside her husband, who was also injured in the incident.<\/p>\n

Fraser police said they used images from business surveillance cameras and Flock Safety license plate readers to track down the suspect at his home in Royal Oak a few hours after in the crash. Investigators found fresh damage to the driver\u2019s side bumper on the truck.<\/p>\n

\"JulieJulie Faithbruckner (FAMILY PHOTO)<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring an interview, Nahhat said he was misidentified and the (truck) damage was from a different incident earlier this year,\u201d Detective Ben Rzrtkiewicz said in court. \u201cHe later changed his story, saying he had a seizure at the time of the crash and didn\u2019t know he had struck someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nahhat\u2019s defense attorney, Stephen Rabaut, objected to a $500,000 bond pushed for by Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Ben Wiegand. He noted the defendant has no criminal history and is a homeowner in Oakland County, with other ties to the community.<\/p>\n

He has been an attorney with the Troy-based Kemp Klein Law Firm, according to the firm\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Mr. Nahhat is a great candidate for a personal bond,\u201d Rabaut said. \u201cHe\u2019s not a risk of flight or a danger to the community whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

If convicted, Nahhat faces up to five years in prison on the fleeing charge, while the lying to police charge, a high-court misdemeanor, is punishable by up to two years in prison.<\/p>\n

The impact of the crash knocked Fathbruckner from her motorcycle onto the road suffering \u201cserious injuries,\u201d authorities said. Her husband, Todd, tried to render aid but he was \u201cnicked\u201d by the truck, according to police. After Fraser police and fire units arrived on the scene, Faithbruckner was rushed to an area hospital, where was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo individuals embrace as family and friends of Julie Faithbruckner file out of an arraignment hearing Wednesday afternoon in 39th District Court. (MITCH HOTTS — THE MACOMB DAILY)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Victim known in defense and equestrian industries<\/p>\n

According to her LinkedIn account, Fathbruckner, 48, had been employed for 19 years as a talent sourcing account manager for RCO Engineering. She was well known in the local aerospace and defense industries, such as Boeing and BAE Systems, and a leader in the Women in Defense organization, her friends said.<\/p>\n

Chaplain Shelly Rood, a longtime friend of the victim, called her death a \u201ca devastating blow\u201d to the defense community.<\/p>\n

Upon hearing the news of her friend\u2019s passing, Rood said \u201cI felt like a light that the world needs\u00a0had gone out and never can have again.\u201d<\/p>\n

She described Fathrbruckner as a woman of faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is the kind of woman who thinks everyone is good and life is beautiful and tries to live out God\u2019s creation every day,\u201d said Rood, a former military intelligence analyst.<\/p>\n

\"ShellyShelly Rood, a longtime friend of Julie Fathbruckner, speaks to reporters after the arraignment hearing. (MITCH HOTTS — THE MACOMB DAILY)<\/p>\n

Friends say Fathbruckner also was an equestrian who volunteered for Camp Casey, a nonprofit horseback riding program for children with cancer and their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe rode in on a horse to her wedding,\u201d Rood said. \u201cI washed that horse with my son earlier that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her husband, Fathbruckner is survived by her parents, Ronald and Anne Lanivich, and brothers George and Ron Lanivich, according to her obituary notice.<\/p>\n

\"NearlyNearly two dozen friends and family members of Julie Fathbruckner gathered in 39th District Court Wednesday for the arraignment of the driver accused in her death. (MITCH HOTTS — THE MACOMB DAILY)<\/p>\n

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1 at Wujek-Calcaterra & Sons, 36900 Schoenherr Road, Sterling Heights. Visitation will be 2-9 p.m. Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Oakland County attorney was charged Wednesday in connection to a hit-and-run crash that took the life of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[138,181,1268,795,100,143,145,144,5268],"class_list":["post-444567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-macomb-county","tag-michigan","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-roseville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}