SALEM, Mich. (FOX 2) – Three people died when a white Nissan SUV traveling the wrong way on the highway in Salem Township drove onto the entrance ramp and struck a Tesla head-on.
The carnage required hours to clean up and left police and families with questions about why the offending vehicle was going the wrong direction in the first place.
“Sometimes, the victim is an innocent bystander, probably going to work, and now they’re planning for a funeral and that’s very tough to swallow,” said Jim Rachwal, the fire chief at Salem Township.
The tragedy happened in the eastbound lanes of M-14 late on Wednesday morning. The crash happened in the entrance ramp on Gotfredson Road when the Nissan, traveling the wrong way, struck the Tesla.
Two people were in the SUV and one was in the Tesla. The two people in the SUV found dead on arrival included a 31-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman. Both were from Battle Creek.
The driver of the Tesla was a 53-year-old from Munith.
Equally horrifying was before the driver of the Tesla died, they had gotten trapped in the vehicle as it caught fire. According to Rachwal, local fire departments still struggle to put out fires involving Tesla cars.
It’s tough to get water onto their lithium ion batteries, which is the source of some Tesla fires.
“We do have fire blankets, which somewhat controls the combustion, but once it goes into thermal run away, there’s not a whole lot right now that we have figured out technology wise to put this fire out,” said Rachwal.
Crews used the jaws of life to cut the doors open to extricate the patient, but by then, it was too late.
Michigan State Police are still investigating why the Nissan was driving the wrong way and whether drugs or alcohol was a factor.
