A 24-year-old Pontiac man was ejected from his Nissan GT-R and killed earlier today after the car crossed lanes on Dixie Highway in Independence Township, struck a curb, and rolled. Jeffrey Alejandro Euceda-Cruz was pronounced dead at the scene, and investigators say he was not wearing a seat belt.
The Oakland County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of a single-vehicle crash at 2:01 a.m., according to MLive. Euceda-Cruz was driving the GT-R southbound on Dixie Highway when he lost control, crossed into the northbound lanes, struck a curb, and rolled, according to the outlet's report.
Investigators believe excessive speed was a contributing factor in the crash, police said, though the exact speed and any additional causes have not been finalized. The Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information about the crash to call 248-858-4950.
Ejection Risk Tied to Missing Seat Belt
Crash data compiled from Michigan State Police reports shows that 43.7% of motor vehicle fatalities with known seat belt use statewide involved someone who was unbelted, and more than a quarter of unbelted occupants ejected in crashes — 25.9% — died as a result, according to the Michigan State Police. Research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found that lap and shoulder belts cut front-seat fatal injury risk by 45% and reduce the chance of ejection by more than 90%.
Michigan law requires front-seat occupants to buckle up under a primary enforcement statute, Michigan Compiled Laws Section 257.710e, which carries a standard fine and court assessment totaling $65, per the Michigan Auto Law firm's summary of the statute. Statewide, seat belt usage climbed to 93.2% in 2025, recovering from a 20-year low of 92.0% recorded the prior year, according to the State of Michigan.
National data adds a demographic dimension to the crash. The National Safety Council reports that adults aged 21 to 24 experience the highest proportion of unrestrained crash deaths among adult age groups, with 60% of fatalities in that group occurring without a seat belt.
Regional Speeding and Local Safety Trends
Speeding-related fatalities across Southeast Michigan hit a 10-year high of 83 deaths in 2022, and 57% of fatal or serious injury speeding crashes that year involved a single vehicle departing its lane, according to data compiled by SEMCOG. Investigators' initial belief that speed contributed to Euceda-Cruz's crash fits that broader regional pattern of high-speed, single-vehicle departures.
Even so, Oakland County has generally logged safer roadways than the state and nation as a whole. The Road Commission for Oakland County recorded a 2024 traffic-fatality rate of 0.51 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, less than half the statewide rate of 1.06 and the national rate of 1.20.
The Dixie Highway corridor in northern Oakland County has still seen its share of serious crashes in recent years, including a fatal two-vehicle collision in neighboring Springfield Township in November 2024, as previously reported by the Oakland County Times. That outlet has also reported that fatal rollover crashes in the county are typically assigned to the Sheriff's Crash Reconstruction Unit, which analyzes physical evidence to determine vehicle speed, trajectory and restraint use.
A Pattern Hoodline Has Tracked Before
This is not the first time this year that Hoodline has covered an ejection death tied to speed in Oakland County. In May, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office investigated a similar single-vehicle crash on M-59 in Rochester Hills, in which an unbelted 35-year-old driver was ejected and killed after speeding and losing control on a curve.
As with that earlier case, official findings on Euceda-Cruz's exact speed and any other contributing factors remain pending while the Crash Reconstruction Unit completes its analysis. The Oakland County Sheriff's Office has not released additional details beyond its initial report.
