Posted on 12/31/2007 3:07:00 AM PST by ShadowDancer
5 Dead in Head-on Collision on I-280
Police believe victims were a family from Maryland
Last Edited: Monday, 31 Dec 2007, 5:26 AM EST
Created: Monday, 31 Dec 2007, 12:33 AM EST
An alleged drunk driver in a black pick-up truck heading northbound in the southbound lanes of Interstate-280 near the I-75 interchange collided with a white minivan with eight passengers, killing five.
The five passengers killed were all females -- a mother, two 10-year-old girls, a 7-year-old girl, and a 6-month-old girl. The father, and 8-year-old girl, and an 8-year-old boy survived.
Four of the family members died at the scene of the crash, Toledo Police say. The infant died after being transported to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.
All of the surviving victims, including the alleged drunk driver, were also taken to St. Vincent for treatment.
Police believe the family is from Maryland because the white minivan had Maryland license plates.
The accident happened right before 11 p.m. Sunday, an hour before New Year's Eve.
The force of the impact was so severe that the pick-up truck sheared off the passenger side of the minivan, killing those on the right side of the vehicle.
"The preliminary report we have is that a pick-up truck going the wrong way on I-280 here and hit a minivan head-on," said Sgt. Jeff Pachall, Toledo Police spokesperson. "The sole occupant of the pick-up truck is injured but alive.
"There are several fatalities out of the minivan and it appears to be a family traveling from Maryland."
Police say the family appears to be non-traditional.
The accident happened between the I-75 split and the Manhattan Boulevard exit.
A witness tells FOX Toledo News that he, along with an off-duty emergency medical technician and an off-duty police officer, freed some of the victims from their seatbelts and performed CPR before emergency crews arrived.
Other people told police the appeared to be drunk. Police say the driver, who suffered minor injuries, is from Adrian, Mich.
"The witnesses say he was [drinking], but I didn't talk to him," Sgt. Pachall said. "He looks like he was but I don't have any information. He was struggling with the firemen [trying to treat him]. He was screaming as they were trying to get him out of the pick-up."
Because of his belligerent demeanor, an officer rode with the suspect in the ambulance. Another officer followed behind in a patrol car.
The Lenawee County man admitted to police that he was drunk at the time of the crash.
A search warrant was issued for the driver's blood and sent it away for testing. Results were not immediately known. He is being held at St. Vincent for observation.
The crash remains under investigation and charges are pending.
Judging by the names and ages, best guess is a simple “yours, mine and ours” situation. The Burkman children would be Bethany’s from an earlier marriage, the two older Griffin children would be the same for the father, Danny, and the baby was theirs together.
No requirement for seat/shoulder belt usage in a van or truck in Michigan. Just ‘cars’.
Evidentally at least some of them were buckled.
Jesus, there is nothing left of it.
what was safe and comforting to us back then now is considered almost "evil"..
Restraints may have saved a couple, but the van looks like it went thru a wood chipper.
A non-traditional family is where a man and woman who are also married have more than one child, did not live together before marriage and are faithful to one another.
No, no, no ... the husband was female and the wife was male.
Some idiot is getting started early. If you are out tonight, FRiends, be careful. And don’t drink. You will need all your skills to avoid the idiots that do.
What a heart-breaking picture.
That video was horrifying. The drunk driver seemed so calm as he walked past the crushed van and when he was dialing his cell phone. Jeez!
How horrible.
They are very relaxed and floppy. Someone has always said “God protects drunks and fools”. I never could swallow that philosophy . The fools, less unfortunate, I can understand. Maybe the Drunks is so they can spend the rest of their days with the demons of the dead swirling around their neck. Comes under the heading “ hell on earth”. May all drunks that injure others suffer that fate.
1. They're illegal aliens.
2. There is some kind of polygamy involved.
I never would have though of #2 until a few months ago when about a dozen people died in a house fire in New York City. The victims included several adult women and a bunch of kids, and it turns out they were the wives and kids of one guy (a recent immigrant from Africa).
That's my guess.
Griffin and Burkman don’t exactly smack of overly ethnic last names.
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