Chicago man dies, wife hurt in southwest Michigan crash
The man, in his early 70s, was behind the wheel of a Cadillac CTS sedan heading east on I-94 to Detroit when a semitruck rear-ended it about 1:30 p.m. at the exit for the village of Mattawan, said Mattawan Fire Department Lt. Kenneth King.
The man's 72-year-old wife, a front-seat passenger, was critically injured, King said.
The man's identity was not being made public but he and his wife are from Chicago, said Michigan State Police Paw Paw Post Sgt. Scott Ernstes.
Fire crews were already in the area putting out a grass fire in the median of the highway, and the driver of the truck behind the Cadillac was likely distracted by that.
"Apparently he was looking at the fire or the units clearing the fire and didn't see the car in front of him," said King. "When he looked up … at that point it was too late."
The impact crushed the entire back of the Cadillac, which then rear-ended a small red Pontiac Grand Am. The couple inside the Grand Am were not injured, and the car, though badly damaged, was "driveable," King said. A second semi was also involved; its trailer was smashed up.
Though the Cadillac was so badly smashed that its back license plate ended up between the headrest of the front seat, the front doors could be opened to get the couple out, King said.
Crews performed CPR on the man and rushed him to the nearest hospital, but he died, King said. His wife was able to talk and stand up but suffered abdominal pain, facial lacerations and bruises to her hip, back and right leg, King said. She was taken to a different hospital than her husband.
The trucker who allegedly caused the crash had a broken nose and possible hip fractures, according to King, and the other truck driver wasn't injured.
As of Saturday night, no citations or charges have been filed against the “at-fault” trucker, a 51-year-old man from Nevada, said Ernstes.
A representative for the Kalamazoo County medical examiner's office could be reached about the crash