One man has died and another is behind bars after a wrong way crash on I-696 Friday morning.
Michigan State Police say they started getting calls about a driver heading eastbound in westbound lanes around 3:30 a.m. Police say they caught up to the driver and attempted to stop them and warn other drivers but were unsuccessful.
The driver, police say finally came to a stop after crashing into a Chevy near Gratiot, killing one person.
Police say it was apparent the at fault driver was under the influence of alcohol. They later learned the unnamed driver also had a suspended license.
"Here’s a person that’s under the influence of alcohol, that shouldn’t have been behind the wheel," said Lieutenant Mike Shaw with MSP. "All they had to do was get an Uber. All they had to do was take a bus, get a piggyback ride. It doesn't matter what it is out there. If they would have done one of those things this wouldn't have happened."
Friday morning, family members identified the driver behind the wheel of the Chevy as 62-year-old Steve Van Norstrand. His family says he was heading to work at the time of the crash.
"I'd call him when things were good, call him when things were bad. You know, I just called him a lot. He was my best friend," said his son Andrew Van Norstrand.
Van Norstrand's family says he played guitar throughout his entire life and was a longtime employee at General Motors, working on site vehicles and generators.
"He worked his butt off his whole life, really took care of us. He was there for everything," his son said Friday.
The 62-year-old leaves behind four adult children and seven grandchildren including four granddaughters and three grandsons. His family says he sported the titles "dad" and "grandfather" with pride and was very involved in all of their lives.
"He really loved his family. He loved getting together with his family. We would get together every Sunday for breakfast and he would really love that," said Van Norstrand's daughter, Heather Schichtel.
His children say although their dad is gone now he leaves behind many lessons like staying cool in tense situations and always being a good person.
"His ability to find the silver lining in everything is something that I carry everyday," said Jarrett Van Norstrand of his dad.
The family says as they work through the hard days ahead, they'd like friends, family and community members to pray for them. They say their dad will be sorely missed.
"If I wanted to say something (to my dad) it'd be thank you for being so selfless because that's what he was. Whether it was his kids, his grandkids, he always put everybody before himself," Andrew Van Norstrand added.
