SLICK ROADS BRING
CRASHES IN OTTAWA COUNTY, MICHIGAN
(FULL STORY) Slippery roads contributed to a couple of
crashes in the area Tuesday afternoon that resulted in four people being
injured.
Becky Vargo
Northwest Ottawa County
Jan 7, 2015
Sgt. Steve Austin said these were just two of several
car crashes and slide-offs handled by the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department
after heavy snow fell Monday night.
Two people were trapped inside their car for a short
time after a broadside crash early Tuesday afternoon on Leonard Road in Polkton
Township, east of 88th Avenue. Coopersville-Polkton firefighters extricated the
seriously injured occupants of the car about 25 minutes after being summoned to
the 12:13 p.m. crash.
Spring Lake resident Mike Stone, 37, said he was driving
his Jeep Commander east on Leonard Road when a car attempted to pass a mail
truck in the westbound lane. The female driver of the car tried to make a
correction, but Stone's Jeep hit the car broadside, he said.
“I was at the top of the rise by the old schoolhouse,”
Stone said. “There was this mail truck westbound, and out from behind was their
vehicle. They were trying to pass.”
Ambulances transported the driver of the car,
30-year-old April McKenney of Allendale, and her passenger, 29-year-old Eric
Cody of Battle Creek, to Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids
with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Stone, who was walking around after the crash, said he
was not injured.
McKenney was ticketed for improper passing and driving
with a suspended license, said Sgt. Kevin Allman of the Ottawa County Sheriff's
Department.
Witnesses said McKenney passed two slower-moving cars
before coming into the path of Stone’s vehicle, Allman said. Stone could not
avoid the crash.
“Obviously, being on a bridge, there was nowhere to go,”
Stone said.
Leonard Road between 88th and 84th avenues was closed to
traffic for more than an hour after the crash.
Several inches of snow had fallen overnight and
continued to fall Tuesday while emergency crews worked the crash scene. The
roads were snow-covered and slippery at the time.
Crockery Township firefighters assisted at the scene.
A little more than two hours later, emergency crews
responded to a semi-truck versus SUV crash in Grand Haven Township. Two
teenagers suffered minor injuries in the crash on U.S. 31 at Hayes Street at
about 3:30 p.m.
Ottawa County Sheriff's deputies said a Chevrolet
Suburban driven by an 18-year-old Grand Haven-area teen was northbound on U.S.
31 when it pulled into the turnaround to go south on the highway, spun its
tires in the snow and ended up in front of a semi-truck.
The driver of the semi said he saw the Suburban’s
spinning tires and realized the SUV wasn't getting enough traction. The truck
driver said he was unable to slow down in time to avoid hitting the vehicle
that pulled out in front of him. The truck driver also couldn't veer right
because of a stalled semi, or left because of cars in the other lanes.
Police said the driver of the SUV was not injured. Two
of his passengers — boys ages 14 and 17 — suffered minor injuries.
The winter-weather blast led to many other crashes and
injuries in West Michigan on Tuesday.
In Kent County’s Byron Township, a 72-year-old man was
seriously injured when he apparently slipped on an icy road and was hit by an
SUV.
Police said Joseph Hagen of Caledonia had dropped his
vehicle off for repairs at a shop on South Division Avenue, just north of 68th
Street, at about 8 a.m. As he was walking across the street to go to a
restaurant, he either slipped on the icy roadway or tripped and fell into the
path of an SUV driven by a 30-year-old Wyoming resident. The driver was unable
to avoid striking Hagen, the Kent County Sheriff’s Department said.
Hagen was taken to the hospital with serious but
non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Snowfall totals from Monday night through Tuesday
morning in Ottawa County ranged from a little more than 2 to up to 10 inches. A
National Weather Service official observer measured the snowfall in Norton
Shores for that time period at 9.6 feet.