Officials Mull Criminal Charges In Massive Pileup On I-94
GALESBURG, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - State police say they have reconstructed last month's massive pileup on I-94 in southwestern Michigan and are determining whether anybody will face criminal charges.
Police officials plan to meet soon with Kalamazoo County prosecutors to assess any possible negligent driving that contributed to the Jan. 9 wreck. The chain-reaction crashes involved 193 vehicles on both sides of the freeway east of Galesburg.
State police Lt. Dale Hinz said the report was completed Thursday, but didn't mention when charges might be announced.
During the incident, a truck carrying fireworks caught fire, triggering a spectacular explosion of the cargo. A 57-year-old truck driver from Ottawa, Canada, was killed and about two dozen people were taken to hospitals — including two firefighters who were injured while attempting to extinguish fires from vehicles.
State police say the chain-reaction crashes in the westbound lanes likely started with drivers distracted by an earlier pileup on eastbound I-94. In the end, the pile-up in the westbound lanes involved more vehicles, the Gazette reported — 59 semi-tractor trailer trucks and 83 cars, compared to 26 semis and 34 cars in the eastbound side.
Nick Schirripa, a state transportation spokesman, blamed the crash on speed and "driver behavior."
"People were driving too fast and following too closely on an icy freeway during a white-out," he said.
A 300-foot section of the eastbound lanes was charred by fire and will have to be replaced.
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