UNDATED (WHTC-AM/FM) – Four persons were hospitalized in three separate crashes along the Lakeshore over the Christmas holiday weekend.
Charges may be pending following the first wreck, a single-vehicle accident on Holland’s North Side. According to Ottawa County Sheriff’s Sergeant Cal Keuning, a westbound vehicle on Ottawa Beach Road approaching 160th Avenue lost control just after midnight on Saturday. “Preliminary investigation shows that a vehicle crossed the center line, went off the road and hit a snow bank, making the car go airborne for approximately 25 feet,” he explained. “After the vehicle landed, it then struck a tree head on.”
The unnamed driver and a passenger, 24-year-old Tyler Curley of Holland, were already out of the vehicle when first responders arrived. They were taken to Holland Hospital in stable condition for treatment.
The second crash involved a 65-year-old Muskegon woman who apparently escaped injury but not a ticket after plowing into an Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department prowl car on the side of I-96 near Coopersville on Saturday night.
According to Sheriff’s Sergeant Jay Douglas, a deputy had pulled over another westbound vehicle around 6 PM in the vicinity of the 48th Avenue exit, with both his car and the vehicle that was pulled over well on the shoulder, and the prowl car had its beacon lights on. “While the deputy was out of his vehicle, speaking with the driver of the vehicle he had stopped, the deputy’s patrol car was struck by a passing 2006 Kia Soul,” Douglas said. “The crash caused the Soul to travel across both lanes of the highway and come to rest about 100 yards beyond the patrol car.”
The unnamed woman refused any treatment at the scene and was cited for failing to yield to a stopped emergency vehicle. The deputy and the occupants of the other vehicle involved were not hurt, and the westbound lanes of the highway were closed for about 15 minutes while the crash scene was cleared up. Douglas added that alcohol was not a factor in this incident.
Finally, a 59-year-old Grand Rapids woman and her 85-year-old mother were hospitalized after a two-vehicle crash in the Marne area on Sunday afternoon.
Ottawa County Sheriff’s Sergeant Bob Ruster and other first responders were called to the intersection of 8th Avenue and Ironwood Drive around 2:40 PM. “Janice Lancaster was northbound on 8th Avenue, was unable to stop on the snow covered Ironwood Drive, and slid through the stop sign,” he said. “She t-bone struck a 2015 Jeep, driven by Ann Van Tassel.”
Lancaster and her mother Lorraine were both taken to St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment; Van Tassel, a 57-year-old woman from Mears, Michigan, was not hurt. Ruster added that all involved were buckled up.
All three crashes remain under investigation.
