Last week, a Chippewa County car accident resulted in the deaths of two women who were passengers in one of two vehicles involved in the collision. Charges are pending against a 67-year-old driver who was injured along with several other people in the fatal car accident.
The accused driver was behind the wheel of a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban along Highway 124. Inside the vehicle were five passengers, including the women who were killed. One victim who was killed was the same age and had the same last name as the defendant. It is unknown if there is any relation.
Police reports did not clarify family connections among the drivers and passengers of the vehicles involved in the deadly accident.
Investigators say the Eagle Point collision happened when the Suburban driver ran a stop sign on a road connected to the highway. A late-model Dodge pickup truck on Highway 124 smashed into the Suburban’s passenger side, killing one woman immediately.
It is reported that four people were riding in the Dodge pickup. Five people occupied the Suburban. A second Suburban passenger sustained critical injuries and died after being transported to a local medical facility. The remaining eight accident victims, including the drivers, suffered unidentified injuries.
Chippewa County police continue to investigate the accident as the district attorney’s office readies charges. Drunk-driving vehicular homicide and injury by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle charges are pending. Officials are waiting for the outcome of the elderly driver’s alcohol blood test.
Police think intoxication may have caused the 67-year-old driver to ignore the stop sign. Negligence didn’t begin when the driver failed to stop, if drunk driving is to blame. It began when the driver made the decision to operate a vehicle after drinking too much alcohol.
The elderly man could be tried in criminal court, where a jury would decide his punishment. He may also be a defendant in one or more civil lawsuits that seek damages for victims’ injuries or wrongful deaths.
Source: chippewa.com, “Photos released in crash that kills two, injures eight in Eagle Point,” Sept. 9, 2012
