Teen succumbs to Labor Day crash injury

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A recent Byron Center High School graduate died late Wednesday night, more than a week after she was critically injured in a crash with four other friends.

Caitlin Hendren was removed from life support just before 10 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Grand Rapids Police Department. She was 19.

In the early hours of Labor Day, five people were in a station wagon driven by Cody Burgess headed south on Eastern Avenue when Burgess allegedly did not stop at a flashing red traffic signal. The station wagon collided with an Oven Fresh truck headed east on 28th Street.

The truck driver was alone in the truck. He was treated and released at a hospital.

But two of the rear-seat passengers in the station wagon were critically hurt. Hendren was one of them. She suffered severe head injuries.

Immediately, her prospects did not look good -- so much so that her father posted on Facebook that she had died that day. But she stayed alive for more than a week.

The crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information can contact the Grand Rapids Police Special Services Unit at 616.456.4282 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345.