At a time when semi drivers generally expect relatively free-wheeling travel on the interstate and considerably reduced traffic, a renegade Chicago driver being pulled over by the Michigan State Police on eastbound I-94 this morning slammed into one semi, careened off of that one into another and left one of the truck drivers headed to the hospital shortly after 3am today.
State Police say that a few minutes after 3am, troopers pulled over a speeding vehicle near Sawyer. With troopers standing on each side of the Jeep, the driver elected to make a run for it, causing minor injuries to one of the troopers standing by the side of the road.
While giving chase to the racing SUV, it got off the interstate at Red Arrow Highway in Bridgman and then re-entered headed westbound. It was while trying to merge back onto I-94 that the Jeep slammed into a semi tractor/trailer in the right hand lane. In doing so, the driver lost control, and the Jeep began rolling over, slamming into a second semi traveling in the middle lane.
The driver of one of the semi’s was transported to Spectrum Health Lakeland in St. Joe with non-life threatening injuries, but the other semi driver was uninjured.
None of the four people in the runaway vehicle sustained any injury. The driver was taken to the Berrien County Jail for driving while intoxicated, fleeing & eluding police and resisting/obstructing police. Investigations continue involving the other people traveling with him. The 2011 Jeep Cherokee and all riders were from the Chicago area.
The crash caused westbound I-94 to be closed at mile marker #16 to all traffic for three hours. The State Police were assisted by the Berrien County Sheriffs department, Bridgman Police, Chikaming Township Police and the Bridgman Fire Department.
