WEBBERVILLE, Mich. (WXYZ) — Four people were killed and 17 were injured in a massive traffic crash along I-96 near Webberville late Saturday night involving a semi and several vehicles.
In an update on Monday afternoon, Michigan State Police said all but two of the people who were injured have been released from the hospital. The driver of the truck remains hospitalized at University of Michigan Hospital.
See the latest update from our Faraz Javed at the scene this morning in the video below
Police say it happened around 11:42 p.m. when traffic was backed up and a semi-truck with a trailer came up on the stopped traffic. It appears, the driver of the truck did not see the backup and could not stop the truck in time.
It was in the left lane and struck numerous vehicles. The impact caused the truck and several vehicles to catch fire.
According to police, there were about 15 vehicles involved, including the semi-truck.
"When I got here, they had eastbound and westbound shutdown. They had under the overpass shutdown," said Justin McCallum.
McCallum works at the gas station next to the intersection. And he was shocked to see the security footage, which showed a fireball explosion rolling down the freeway at 11:41 pm.
"We had Stockbridge coming out, Williamstown, Bath, Fowlerville responded, Webberville responded. Howell. They were trying to get Brighton out there," said Justin.
Michigan State Police's First District Lt. Rene Gonzalez says moments before the crash, a few MSP units had closed the freeway for 15 minutes so that DTE workers could pull power lines across the freeway.
"We had just reopened the freeway, it was westbound on I96. At this time, traffic was just starting to move again; it was a little bit backed up. And we had a semi that was also traveling westbound, it had a trailer on it, came up on the group of vehicles. It appears he didn't see the backup, couldn't stop in time. And drove into the group of vehicles. That caused a huge collision, an explosion, and vehicles catching on fire," said Lt. Gonzalez.
Of the four killed, three people were traveling in the same car, all related from Lansing. A 46-year-old man along with two women, 20 and 33-year-olds. The 4th victim, a 29-year-old man, was from Carson City. Meanwhile, the 17 injured were rushed to Sparrow Hospital and Mclaren Hospital in serious condition.
"The semi-truck driver was injured in the crash as well as burns," said Lt. Gonzalez.
Lt. Gonzalez says the semi-trailer truck, which was carrying produce, was completely burned and crushed in the crash.
"Is it normal for powerlines to be pulled across expressways in the middle of the night?" I asked.
"It's the best time to do it because traffic is minimal at that time," said Lt. Gonzalez.
As the investigation continues, this father of three can't begin to imagine how many lives will be impacted by the crash.
"There are some families today that are going to be traumatized for the rest of their lives because of what happened today," Justin said.
Police say the highwaywill be closed in both directions for a while, possibly impacting the Monday work commute.
