Grand Rapids Man Airlifted to Hospital After I-196 Crash Involving Tree

A man was airlifted to the hospital after his vehicle struck a tree on a Michigan highway, local authorities reported Tuesday. The incident occurred before 10 a.m. on I-196 near Adams Street, when a 32-year-old driving a Chevy work van went off the road, resulting in him being trapped inside his vehicle.

The driver, a Grand Rapids resident, had to be extricated from the van by the Holland Township Fire Department, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office said the Aero Med helicopter touched down on the halted westbound traffic lanes to whisk the injured man to Corewell Health Butterworth Hospital, the MLive reported.

According to details from the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office, the driver was pinned in the wreckage for an unknown duration until firefighters could free him, meanwhile, as part of the rescue operation, police shut down westbound I-196 briefly to clear the way for the helicopter, this enforcement action was confirmed by deputies in a statement to 13 ON YOUR SIDE.

While the specific cause of the crash is still under scrutiny, the Sheriff's Department is probing into the various factors that led to the vehicle's abrupt and tragic encounter with a stationary tree the driver, whose identity has been withheld, was confirmed to be buckled up during the incident, as per officers' findings relayed by WOODTV.