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Two people remain hospitalized after Saturday's fatal crash on I-96

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LEROY TWP. — Two of 17 people injured in a crash Saturday on Interstate 96 near Webberville remain hospitalized, police said Monday afternoon.

No further details were provided about the crash, which involved more than a dozen vehicles and killed four people, including three from Lansing and one from Carson City, more than a day after a section of I-96 was first closed near Webberville by Michigan State Police released Saturday evening.

The driver of a tractor-trailer involved in the crash remains at the University of Michigan Hospital, state police said on social media Monday. Other injured people were taken to Sparrow and McLaren hospitals in the Lansing area.

The Lansing victims were in a Chevy Trax and were related, police said. They included two women aged 20 and 43 and a 47-year-old man. The fourth person to die was a 29-year-old man from Carson City who was driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck. Michigan State Police recently adopted a policy of not releasing the names of people killed in accidents.

The accident occurred around 11:42 p.m. Saturday on a stretch of highway near M-52 that had been closed earlier in the evening so DTE Energy crews could lay power lines across it. As a result of the crash, a major fire broke out, as can be seen from a video.

Lt. Rene Gonzalez, spokesman for the State Police First District, did not respond to messages from the State Journal seeking information about who was responsible for traffic management and opening and closing the highway and whether it was part of the ongoing investigation.

State police said the crash occurred after troopers “completed the closure of westbound I-96 at M-52 on the overpass and had just reopened a section of road.”

“Numerous vehicles were stopped on the highway at that time,” state police said on social media. “A semi-truck with a trailer was traveling westbound on the expressway and came across stationary traffic. It appears that the driver of the semi-truck did not see the backlog and was unable to stop his vehicle in time.”

The truck was in the left lane and crashed into several vehicles, causing the truck and some vehicles to catch fire.

The highway was largely closed in both directions Sunday, and state police said MDOT planned to inspect the M-52 bridge over the highway.

Contact reporter Matt Mencarini at [email protected].

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