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	The Manchester Enterprise A Heritage Newspaper Weekly Publication

4 injured in traffic crash

Driver lost control when Jeep Wrangler hydroplaned

By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers

PUBLISHED: May 3, 2007

Four people, including a 4-year-old boy and his mother, a Brooklyn woman who is 7 months pregnant, were injured in a crash April 26 in Sharon Township.

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The crash was reported at about 10:30 a.m. on Pleasant Lake Road between Meyers and Smyth roads, just west of M-52.

According to a report from the Michigan State Police Ypsilanti Post, a Jeep Wrangler driven by the Brooklyn woman was traveling eastbound on Pleasant Lake Road near Meyers Road when she lost control of her vehicle after hydroplaning on a large amount of standing water on the roadway as a result of heavy rainfall.

The Jeep spun 180 degrees, crossed the centerline rear-end first and was struck a westbound 2006 Chevrolet Malibu sedan driven by a Manchester Township man.

The report stated that both vehicles sustained heavy damage, and all victims were taken by Huron Valley Ambulance to the University of Michigan Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The force of the collision crushed the front end of the Malibu, which came to rest in a field on the north side of the road.

The spare tire mounted on the back of the Jeep had folded underneath the rear axle and punctured the fuel tank, but the wet road surface and steady rain prevented the gasoline from igniting.

Police declined to identify the victims, but witnesses at the scene reported that the driver of the Malibu was Ed Townsend, who was traveling with his wife, Peg.

Vicki Poley of Sharon Township, a registered nurse at the U of M Hospital, was the first on the scene and rendered first aid until paramedics arrived.

"The Townsends are good friends of ours; I must have come on it right after it happened," Poley said. "(The Brooklyn woman) had her little boy in her arms, yelling 'help, help, help, somebody call 911.' (He) was complaining that his head hurt; he may have lost consciousness for a few moments."

The accident remains under investigation by the Michigan State Police and crash reconstruction specialists with the U of M working under a grant from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.