In a tragic incident this morning in Southwest Michigan, an 8-year-old girl lost her life, and a 12-year-old boy was critically injured following a collision involving an SUV and an Amish buggy. The Michigan State Police confirmed that the crash occurred on CR-215 near 60th Avenue in Lawrence Township, Van Buren County around 8 a.m., where a Ford SUV rear-ended the horse-drawn vehicle, as reported by CBS News Detroit.
The horse that was pulling the buggy also succumbed to its injuries after the Ford SUV, driven by a 31-year-old Mattawan woman, collided with the rear of the carriage. Neither the driver of the SUV nor her two passengers were harmed during the incident, according to The Detroit News. In the immediate aftermath, both young passengers were transferred to a local hospital, where the 8-year-old girl was pronounced dead, and the boy was listed in critical condition. The tragic outcome seems to place them in a line of previous fatal collisions in the state involving motor vehicles and Amish buggies over recent years
Law enforcement took the driver into custody, and she faces charges of operating under the influence of an unknown substance. Van Buren County Jail is now holding the suspect, as per a report by ClickonDetroit, while Van Buren County Sheriff's deputies along with Emergency Medical Services provided assistance at the site of the collision, as the ongoing investigation aims to piece together the circumstances leading up to the crash.
