A 74-year-old Chelsea man’s alleged wrong-way driving resulted in a multi-car pile-up along southbound US-23 on Sunday afternoon, April 8. Michigan State Police (MSP) note that the crash caused the deaths of two Ohio residents and seriously injured several others.
Dispatchers with the MSP first began receiving calls of the crash nearby the intersection of US-23 and 6 Mile Road in Northfield Township right around 3 p.m. The area where the crash occurred lies in Washtenaw County, just 35 miles to the west of Detroit.
One of the witnesses to the crash reported that this was by far the worst crash that he’d seen in the area in some time. He noted that cars were significantly crashed up and that debris was left scattered all over the place.
Emergency crews responding to the scene immediately tended to the motorists in each of the four cars involved in the crash. The first car that the elderly man had apparently hit with his Chevrolet Bolt was a Ford Fusion.
All three of the occupants of that vehicles were Ohioans. Two of them died immediately when their car was struck head-on. Only its driver survived. He was transported to the University of Michigan Hospital in serious condition.
After crashing into the Ford, the elderly driver apparently continued on, striking both a Chevrolet Silverado and Equinox. All occupants of those vehicles suffered only minor injuries in the crash.
As for the driver of the Bolt, he too was transported to the hospital in serious condition. MSP is continuing to investigate why the elderly man may have been driving in the wrong direction at the time of the crash.
If you’ve either been seriously hurt or lost a loved one in a motor vehicle crash, then a Detroit attorney can advise you of your right to either file an injury or wrongful death lawsuit in your case.
Source: Detroit Free Press, “Police: 2 die after wrong-way driver from Chelsea causes multi-vehicle crash,” April 09, 2018
