A Dowagiac woman was admits that she fell asleep at the wheel early today after working through the night and crashed her car into an oncoming semi tractor trailer that had been making a commercial delivery in the Jones, Michigan area this morning.
Cass County Sheriff Richard Behnke says his office investigated the crash just seconds after 9am today on M-60 near Bair Lake Street in Newberg Township.
Behnke says that emergency personnel responded to the crash involving an east bound semi and a west bound car. The driver of the car was identified as Jaquiline Renee Hand, a 22 yyear old Dowagiac woman who was returning home from work.
The semi tractor-trailer, from Klink Trucking in South Bend, was driven by 61 year old Jeff Davis of Knox, Indiana, who had been scheduled to make a delivery in the Jones, Michigan area.
Hand told Cass County deputies that she fell asleep and struck the truck, while Davis says he made a dramatic attempt to avoid the crash by moving as far to the right as possible without success.
Behnke reports that Hand was taken from the scene of the accident to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo for treatment. Seatbelts and airbags were used by both parties, and deputies say that alcohol and drugs were not factors in the crash.
Newberg Fire/Ambulance and Life Care Ambulance both assisted authorities at the scene, and Behnke reports that the Crash remains under investigation.
