HOLLAND TWP., MI (WHTC) – One of two Holland residents hospitalized in a three-vehicle pileup on US-31 just east of the Tulip City on Tuesday afternoon has succumbed to her injuries.
Holland Hospital officials notified the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department that 76-year-old Joan Haight died hours after the collision. She was a front-seat passenger in a westbound compact car driven by 74-year-old David Kars that was attempting to cross the trunk road at 8th Street when she was directly hit by a southbound pickup truck that apparently went through a red light. Their vehicle then careened into a SUV that was alongside.
First responders had to extricate the two Holland residents and conveyed them to Holland Hospital, with Kars’ condition upgraded from serious to fair overnight. Tiffany Nichols, a 29-year-old woman from Hesperia driving the pickup truck, and 67-year-old Nancy Haveman of West Olive, who was piloting the SUV, were not injured.
The crash remains under investigation, and the case will be forwarded upon its completion to the Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office for review, as is standard in any fatal accident.
