A 77-year-old Greenville man was pronounced dead at the scene after a semi-truck failed to stop for standstill traffic on eastbound I-96 in Boston Township Saturday, triggering a chain-reaction crash that injured four other people and shut down the highway for hours.
Michigan State Police troopers from the Lakeview Post were dispatched to the multi-vehicle crash in Boston Township, according to WZZM13, which reported the crash killed one person, injured four and closed the eastbound roadway for four hours. WOOD TV reported that troopers responded around 12:30 p.m. Saturday, though Ionia County Dispatch, as cited by Yahoo News, placed the crash at roughly 12:15 p.m.
How the Crash Unfolded
Investigators believe an eastbound semi-truck did not stop for traffic that had come to a standstill, rear-ending a Chrysler Pacifica and pushing it into a Dodge Ram pickup truck, the station's report states. The Pacifica's driver, the 77-year-old Greenville man, was pronounced dead at the scene. The vehicle's 63-year-old passenger, a Greenville woman, sustained critical injuries, according to state police, while two other passengers in the Pacifica suffered serious injuries that were considered not life-threatening; all three were hospitalized, per the same account.
Details about who was inside the Dodge Ram differ between accounts. WZZM's reporting identifies a 33-year-old Zeeland man as the pickup's driver, while WOOD TV reports that the Ram's driver was uninjured and that a 33-year-old Zeeland woman riding as a passenger sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized. The 33-year-old semi-truck driver, from Philadelphia, was not harmed in the crash.
Speed Cited as a Factor, Investigation Ongoing
Troopers said all occupants involved were wearing seatbelts and that drugs or alcohol did not appear to be involved, though speed does appear to have been a factor, according to Michigan State Police. The investigation remains ongoing, police say.
The crash echoes a deadly wreck in the same stretch of Boston Township in August 2023, when a chain-reaction crash on westbound I-96 near Nash Highway killed a semi-truck driver and injured a passenger-car driver, according to WOOD TV's earlier coverage. In that incident, initial reports indicated a semi failed to slow for a traffic backup, rear-ended a passenger car and then struck two other semis before westbound lanes reopened around 3 p.m.
Construction Zone Concerns Along I-96
13 On Your Side reached out to the Michigan Department of Transportation about crashes in construction areas following the Saturday crash. An MDOT spokesperson urged drivers to exercise caution near construction. MDOT spokesperson John Richard said via email that about 20 people die every week in Michigan, and that “it's up to the motorist to pay attention, follow the rules and drive per conditions at all times.”
I-96 has seen ongoing construction work in Ionia County this year. During the prior spring and summer, reconstruction of the highway's westbound lanes sent traffic in both directions onto the eastbound lanes, a period during which Michigan State Police reported more than 50 injury crashes involving commercial vehicles, including nine that were deadly, according to WOOD TV. Both directions of I-96 in Ionia County were reduced to one lane through Nov. 7 while crews removed temporary crossovers between Morrison Lake Road and Sunfield Highway, Fox 17 reported, with the current construction phase expected to wrap up in mid-to-late November depending on weather.
Michigan work zones saw roughly 6,000 crashes in 2025, with 25 fatalities including 22 motorists and three construction workers, according to preliminary statistics from the Michigan Department of Transportation. Whether construction conditions played any role in Saturday's crash has not been established, and the investigation into the exact circumstances remains ongoing.
