GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Though the U.S. has seen a slight decline in fatal pedestrian crashes, data in Michigan paints a different picture.

Following a 40-year high in 2022, fatal pedestrian crashes across the country in 2023 fell by 5.4% from 7,737 to 7,318, according to a report from the Governors Highway Safety Association. In Michigan, however, pedestrian-involved crashes rose 11% during the same period and pedestrian fatalities increased by 6%, with 183 deaths in 2023.

“I think it’s not the pedestrians’ issue, it’s the driving issue. I think that’s probably what the factor is in terms of the rise,” Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said. “I think for whatever reason, we’re just not as conscious about driving and sometimes it’s cellphones, sometimes it’s distracted driving. There’s just a lot more going on in our cars now than there was before, so I think that plays a role into it.”

Out of 23 fatal pedestrian crashes across West Michigan that News 8 reported in 2023, only two resulted criminal charges filed against the driver.

“Like any case, I think we have to take everything into consideration,” Becker said. “It does depend on what’s going on. Was it in a crosswalk? Was it not in a crosswalk? What was going on during the time? Weather, time of day, how those all factor in. Can a driver see it?”

Cases in which pedestrians were walking in or alongside the road generally favor the driver. Becker said when his office pursues charges, it’s usually in a situation in which the pedestrian was somewhere they had a right to be, like a crosswalk, or the driver was under the influence or operating recklessly.

Regardless of the circumstances, it’s normal for loved ones of those killed to want accountability.

“Obviously, when it happened, I had a lot of resentment towards the person,” Trey Trombly said.

Trombly’s father Pedro Garcia Jr. was hit by a car and killed in Wyoming on Dec. 28, 2023.

“I was deployed at the time on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower,” Trombly recalled.

With spotty service, it took almost a week for the news to reach him.

“My phone updated and then my mom’s like, ‘You need to call me right now,'” he said. “It didn’t really set in. And then once I got word of it, (I) talked to my chain of command and they were able to make some things happen so I could get back home and take care of the funeral arrangements and stuff like that.”

Following a 9-month deployment with the U.S. Navy, Trombly returned to his home in Virginia in July. He still hasn’t fully processed his father’s death.

“When you’re out there deployed, you kind of put everything away that’s dealing with anything that has to go on back home. You kind of just have to tuck that away because you’re out there to do a job. And I mean, it’s not to say that it’s easy, but it’s the job that we signed up for at the time, so you just got to tuck it away, learn how to deal with it as good as you can out there,” he explained.

Of the cases in West Michigan that News 8 reported in 2023, Garcia’s is the only one still open, but Trombly said he’s received very little communication from police about the status. He is still hopeful someone will be held responsible.

“I’m a grown man, so I understand things happen. I forgive them, but you do gotta pay for the consequences somehow,” he said.

Asked if he had a message to families who have lost a loved one in a pedestrian-involved crash, Becker said he understands it’s traumatic.

“We’re trying to take it from a factual perspective and applying the facts to the law and that’s our job,” he said. “We want to be as mindful to those families and I know it takes a long time and we have cases that take months. Eventually, we do file charges, sometimes we don’t, but you know, we have to get it right, because it impacts their family, but you’re having a major impact on another family as well.”

Becker added that sometimes consequences don’t always mean criminal charges.

“There may be civil damages, there may be something else, but we got to take a hard look at that. Because whatever criminal charge you face, even at the lowest level, let’s say, a moving violation causing death, that’s a misdemeanor offense, it’s a one-year misdemeanor offense. Very rarely are you getting jail time, but you’re probably looking at a year’s driver’s license, a hard suspension. That’s very difficult in the day’s day and age,” Becker said.

Trombly still struggles with not knowing if or when someone will be held responsible for his father’s death, but he’s relying on his faith to get him through.

“I just kind of let go and let God, you know, I think everything happens for a reason,” Trombly reflected. “Obviously I’m not the only person that has been dealing with something like this, so I’m just hoping it kind of maybe shows the police force or whoever (that) hey, there’s a lot of people like me that want to get some information about stuff, and need that kind of closure on these type of things.”

October is National Pedestrian Safety Month. You can find more information about potential dangers and how to stay safe as a pedestrian here.