A 35-year-old woman is dead after the car she was driving slammed into a PNC Bank on South Westnedge Avenue near Howard Street in Kalamazoo in the early morning hours of Sunday. A passenger in the vehicle was hospitalized with injuries described as not life-threatening, while the driver was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.
According to WWMT, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety is investigating the crash, which happened at the bank branch at South Westnedge Avenue near Howard Street. The driver was taken by ambulance to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to mlive.com. Her passenger was also hospitalized, with injuries that are not considered life-threatening, police said.
Conflicting Reports on Response Time
Accounts of exactly when officers arrived differ slightly. Mlive reports that officers responded around 2:21 a.m. Sunday to the crash in the 1700 block of South Westnedge Avenue, while a separate report states officers responded around 2:20 a.m. after it was reported that a vehicle had hit a building in the area, per fox17online.com. Both accounts agree that no other vehicles were involved in the crash, the same mlive report notes.
Investigators say excessive speed appears to have been a factor in the crash, though that assessment remains preliminary, the outlet's report notes. No further details about what led up to the crash, or the identities of the driver and passenger, have been released.
Speed a Recurring Factor in Recent Kalamazoo-Area Crashes
This is not the only recent Kalamazoo County crash where speed has been flagged as a possible cause. A 29-year-old Lawton man died after his motorcycle collided with a car in Oshtemo Township, according to woodtv.com, with state police saying excessive speed may have been a factor in that crash as well.
Kalamazoo police are asking anyone with information about Sunday's crash to call the department's Criminal Investigation Division at 269-337-8139 or Silent Observer at 269-343-2100. The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deadly collision remains ongoing.
