HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — A 23-year-old Norton Shoes man is in Ottawa County Jail after a wrong-way driving incident early Thanksgiving morning, which led to two separate crashes, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. J. Douglas. No one was hurt.
Road patrol deputies were alerts to a driver headed north in the southbound lanes of U.S. 31 near Jackson Street in Grand Haven, just before 1:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019.
Police found the vehicle just north of U.S. 31’s Ferrysburg exit, and a deputy paralleled the vehicle in the northbound lanes with its lights and sirens on, trying to get the wrong-way driver to pull over. That didn’t work.
The deputy pulled ahead of the vehicle, to warn southbound drivers of the impending danger.
Finally the deputy got far enough ahead of the wrong way driver to pull through the median crossover, entering the southbound lanes to block southbound traffic and stop the wrong-way driver.
The driver didn’t stop, and was headed for the patrol car, so the deputy attempted to avoid the crash — but in doing so, collided with a southbound vehicle with a 57-year-old West Olive resident.
The wrong way driver managed to travel another mile before other sheriff’s deputies were able to get him to stop.No one was hurt, but southbound U.S. 31 was closed for about 90 minutes as part of the investigation.
The incident remains under investigation.
