GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Former Union High School head football coach Don Fellows pleaded guilty to two charges after a drunk driving arrest.
Fellows, 48, was arrested in September after allegedly driving while intoxicated and hitting a pedestrian who was trying to get him to stop in North Muskegon.
He was then suspended from Grand Rapids Public Schools. After an internal investigation, he was fired.
Fellows is charged with failure to stop at the scene of a personal injury accident, operating while intoxicated and failure to stop after a collision charges.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges in October. In December, he pleaded guilty to operating his vehicle with a BAC of .17 or more and failure to stop after a collision.
The charges of operating while intoxicated, failing to stop at the scene of a personal injury accident and refusing to give a preliminary breath test have been dropped.
On Sept. 9, officers were initially advised of a suspicious situation which was upgraded to a driving complaint and then to a pedestrian struck, according to a police report.
A North Muskegon Police Department Officer found a large crowd in the street at the corner of 2nd Street and Mills Avenue. People in the crowd alerted the officer they needed an ambulance because a man had been hit by Fellows' vehicle. He saw the man lying in the road unconscious. He then saw Fellows try to drive away.
When an officer stopped him, his Chevy Suburban was tilted to the front passenger side and there were sparks coming off of it.
Officers reported that Fellows was compliant, even admitting multiple times that he was drunk. They said he smelled like alcohol, displayed a lack of balance and had slurred speech. They also found empty beer cans in his vehicle, police reported.
The man who had been hit was brought to a nearby hospital.
People on scene also alerted police to a nearby car which appeared to have been struck, alleging Fellows had hit it. Police investigated the car and collected car parts left at the scene to see if they matched Fellows' vehicle.
The alleged incident did not involve GRPS or any of the district's students, the school said.
“We are saddened by these developments but committed to ensuring continuity for our scholar-athletes. An interim replacement coach has been appointed and he will assume leadership responsibilities immediately,” GRPS Executive Director of Athletics Kurt Johnson said. “Our focus is and always has been on the best interest of the scholars we serve. We know that their participation on the Union High School football team has been enriching and we won’t allow that to change.”
Fellows previously coached the Grand Rapids Christian High School football team, leading them to a state championship in 2012. He also posted the winningest record of all time at GRCH.
When Fellows joined Union's football program in 2020, the Red Hawks had lost 43 straight games and hadn't won since 2015.
Assistant Coach Scott Van Essen was named interim head coach effective immediately.
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