WHITEFORD TWP, MICH. (WWJ) A suspected drunk driver killed a Monroe County woman and her unborn child in a crash on US-23, police said.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office; the crash happened on northbound US-23, north of Consear Road, on Saturday, May 17 around 10:01 p.m. Preliminary investigation revealed the 32-year-old victim was driving a red Ford Escape in the right lane. While in motion, she was sideswiped by a 24-year-old Oregon, Ohio man in a white Chrysler 300.
“Prior to impact, the Chrysler 300, according to witnesses, was passing vehicles at a high rate of speed on the right shoulder,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release.
Sheriffs’ officials said the Chrysler then merged into the right lane from the shoulder and tried to pass the Ford Escape on the left, striking it. The Ford Escape ran off the road to the right.
“The Escape rolled several times over an embankment before coming to rest on its right side,” the press release read.
The driver of the Ford Escape was trapped inside the vehicle. The Whiteford Township Fire Department extricated her, according to investigators.
The driver of the Ford Escape was identified as Kaitlyn A. Ellison, 32 of Petersburg, Michigan. She was seven months pregnant. Ellison was rushed to Toledo Hospital where she was pronounced dead, along with her unborn child.
According to sheriffs’ officials; the Chrysler driver ran away from the scene after the crash. Sheriff’s Office K9s and drone teams searched the area. Deputies arrested him at the Pilot Gas Station on US-223.
He was taken to the Monroe County Jail on two counts of Second Degree Homicide and two counts of OWI causing death. His name is being withheld pending arraignment.
The Whiteford Township Fire Department, Monroe Community Ambulance and Michigan State Police assisted at the scene.
The crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at (734) 240-7548 or 1-800-SpeakUp.