CALIFORNIA TOWNSHIP (WWJ) - Five people were hurt, with two sustaining serious injuries, after a vehicle hit an Amish buggy from behind near the Michigan-Indiana state line over the weekend.
Michigan State Police said the crash occurred Saturday, April 22, around 12:30 a.m. on north side of E. Southern Road in California Township, a little more than a mile west of the Hillsdale County line.
The car was traveling west on Southern Road near Kelly Road, troopers said, when it collided with an Amish horse-drawn buggy headed in the same direction in the same lane.
The buggy was destroyed, troopers added, and all five people riding in it were injured.
A 27-year-old Coldwater man driving the buggy sustained serious broken leg bones and was taken to the hospital by ambulance while an 18-year-old female passenger from Montgomery was airlifted to Parkview Hospital in Ft. Wayne with critical head and back injuries.
First responders said both were recovering after undergoing surgery. Their conditions are currently unknown.
The other three buggy passengers were treated at the scene for minor injuries, MSP added.
The driver of the car, identified as a 35-year-old Indiana man was wearing a seatbelt and walked away unhurt. He told troopers that he did not see the horse and buggy before he crashed into it. Conditions in the area, as reported by The Daily Reporter, were described as very dark and cloudy with no moonlight.
MSP said the buggy did not have safety lights and it is unclear if it had reflector tape or a slow-moving orange-colored triangle mounted on the back.
Alcohol may be a factor in the crash, police said, but the investigation is ongoing.
The horse pulling the Amish buggy broke loose in the incident and was seen over a mile away from the crash site by fire fighters. Residents on social media reported that the animal was eventually caught.
It is unclear if the horse sustained any injuries.