UNDATED (WHTC-AM/FM, May 20, 2022) – Ottawa County Sheriff’s Deputies and other first responders had their hands full on Friday, with three injury crashes north of Holland involving a motorcycle, a pickup truck, a sedan and three SUV in a span of around two hours.
The first call came from Port Sheldon Township just before 4 PM. According to witnesses, a sedan heading northbound on US-31, and apparently driven at a high rate of speed by a 24-year-old Grand Haven man, slammed into the rear of a SUV, driven by a 21-year-old Holland man, which was turning right from westbound Croswell Street. The force of the collision caused the SUV to roll into the median. Rescuers were able to extricate the SUV driver, and both motorists were taken to undisclosed hospitals for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
The second call was more serious, and it came around 4:30 PM. An eastbound motorcyclist on James Street, who had just passed 120th Avenue, slammed into a pickup truck attempting to pull out of a private drive onto the roadway, causing the helmeted biker to be thrown from his machine. The 59-year-old West Olive man piloting the motorcycle was flown to Spectrum-Butterworth Hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries, while the pickup driver, a 22-year-old Holland man, was not hurt.
The final call came just after 6 PM from Butternut Drive north of James Street. A Holland woman in her 40’s, driving a SUV, had pulled out of the parking lot of a restaurant onto northbound Butternut and into the path of a northbound SUV, driven by a 34-year-old Holland woman. The older woman had to be extricated by rescue workers and was taken to Holland Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. A three-month-old boy, properly secured in a child safety seat in the rear, was not hurt, nor was the other motorists.
The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department did not disclose any names in any of these incidents, all of which remain under investigation.
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