An elderly man and woman, both from St. Joseph, died late this morning when they inadvertently pulled directly into the path of a commercial tanker truck in Waverly Township of Van Buren County near Bangor.
Sheriff Daniel Abbott says that around 11:37am this morning, Monday, December 16th, 2019, his team was dispatched to the intersection of M-43 and County Road 665 in Waverly Township east of Bangor, where they found an 88 year old St. Joseph man and an 83 year old St. Joseph woman dead at the scene in their SUV after they had pulled into the path of a 61 year old tanker truck driver from Bloomingdale.
Several calls had come into the 911 dispatch center, and when Deputy Robert Miersma arrived on the scene he found both the driver and his front seat passenger had been killed in the crash.
The tanker was headed eastbound on M-43, while the elderly couple were headed north on CR 665. They had apparently stopped, but then pulled into the intersection, directly into the path of the tanker truck, which struck the driver’s side causing him to lose control of the vehicle and spin into a nearby yard.
The truck driver waited at the scene to help explain the accident to authorities, but he was apparently unhurt in the crash. The incident remains under investigation by the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department. They were assisted at the scene by the Michigan State Police and the Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Division.
The names of the elderly people who died in the crash have not been released at this time.
